Look for *-flat.vmdk . If it exists but the small .vmdk is missing or zero bytes, recovery is possible.

Recovering a VM from a flat VMDK is straightforward once you understand the descriptor’s role. Never attempt to directly mount or modify the -flat.vmdk file. Instead, regenerate the pointer file using vmkfstools -z or a manual descriptor. In most cases, your virtual machine can be fully restored within minutes without any data loss.

A flat VMDK file is a type of virtual disk file used by VMware ESXi and other virtualization platforms. It contains the actual data of a virtual machine's hard drive. In this report, we will discuss the steps to recover a virtual machine from a flat VMDK file.

This is the safest and fastest method.