Sometimes, if a VM is powered on, the file is locked. Even if "deleted," the file might not actually disappear until the lock is released.
were you using (VMware ESXi, vSAN, Proxmox, etc.)? Do you have a backup solution (like Veeam) in place? deleted vmdk
Method 2: Recover Deleted VMDK in ESXi via Datastore Browser Sometimes, if a VM is powered on, the file is locked