First, understand what happens when you delete a partition. Tools like fdisk , parted , or Windows DiskPart do not erase your data. They erase the partition table entry —a small, 128-byte (or less) record that tells the operating system where the partition starts, where it ends, and what type of file system it holds (e.g., 0xFB for VMFS).
Ensure SSH is enabled on your ESXi host to allow command-line access for manual inspection. 2. Manual Recovery via ESXi Command Line recover deleted vmfs partition
Critical ESXi errors preventing access to the datastore. First, understand what happens when you delete a partition