Recovery of Data from LVM, VM Disks, and Ext4/XFS Directory Storage in Proxmox

• Author:
  
  Vladimir Artiukh
• Editor:
  
  Oleg Afonin
• Updated: 13.07.2026 21:45

In this article, we will examine the process of recovering data from LVM, virtual machine disks, and local Directory storage based on the Ext4 and XFS file systems created in Proxmox Virtual Environment 9.1.1.

Contents

• Proxmox VE capabilities
• Disk connection methods
• How to create disk images for recovery
• How to recover data from Proxmox VE
  • Recovery from Directory Ext4
  • Recovery from Directory XFS
  • Recovery from LVM storage
• Conclusion
• Questions and answers
• Comments

Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) is one of the most popular open-source virtualization platforms, widely used for deploying enterprise servers, private clouds, and virtual machine infrastructure. It supports various storage types, including LVM, LVM-Thin, virtual machine disk images, as well as Directory storage based on Ext4 and XFS file systems, which enables flexible data storage organization.

However, even a reliable infrastructure is not immune to failures. File system corruption, configuration errors, drive failures, failed Proxmox updates, or accidental deletion of a virtual machine can lead to loss of access to important data. In such cases, the main rule is not to perform actions that may overwrite the information, since in most situations the data can still be successfully recovered.

In this article, we will examine how to recover data from LVM storage, virtual machine disks (VM disks), and Ext4 and XFS Directory storage in Proxmox. You will learn where virtual machine files are stored, what specific characteristics different storage types have, and which tools and methods can help recover lost data even after serious system failures.

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How to Recover Data from Proxmox: LVM, VM Disks, Ext4, and XFS

Proxmox VE capabilities

Proxmox Virtual Environment is a powerful open-source virtualization platform that combines the KVM hypervisor for full-featured virtual machines and LXC technology for isolated containers. This allows administrators to deploy and manage the entire infrastructure from a single web interface, significantly simplifying server maintenance.

One of Proxmox’s key advantages is support for a wide range of storage systems. These include:

• LVM;
• LVM-Thin;
• ZFS;
• Ceph;
• Directory storage with Ext4 and XFS file systems.

This makes it possible to flexibly configure virtual machine disk storage in qcow2, raw, and vmdk formats, ensuring an ideal balance between performance and management convenience. At the same time, however, this flexibility creates a complex, multi-layered data storage structure.

Despite the high reliability of the system, no infrastructure is immune to data loss. Hardware drive failures, administrator errors, file system corruption, or failed updates can lead to the loss of virtual machines, LVM volumes, or individual files.

Due to the specific architecture of Proxmox, standard recovery methods are often ineffective here. That is why it is critically important to understand the data storage principles in this system and to be able to use specialized tools to recover it.

Disk connection methods

So, before starting software-based recovery, we need to connect the server drives to a Windows computer correctly.

This can be done in several ways:

• The most reliable option is a classic SATA connection directly to the motherboard. This guarantees maximum read speed and minimal latency.
• If the motherboard does not have enough connectors for the entire array, a PCIe-SATA adapter is an excellent solution that allows you to connect additional drives.
• If you do not want to disassemble the computer case, you can use external USB docking stations or adapter cables. However, keep in mind that scanning speed over USB will be significantly lower, which noticeably affects the time required to work with large data sets.

And the most important rule: you should always consider creating byte-by-byte disk images. This is especially important if your drives have bad sectors, produce unusual sounds, or there is a risk of further degradation. In this case, the program will work with a virtual copy without placing additional load on the damaged physical drive.

How to create disk images for recovery

In situations where it is technically impossible to connect all drives required for recovery to the computer at the same time (for example, due to a lack of available ports), you can use the method of creating their images.

An image is an exact byte-for-byte copy of a physical drive saved as a regular file on another large-capacity storage device. You can connect the drives to the system one by one, create images from them, and then load all the resulting files into the program.

The data recovery utility Hetman Partition Recovery will work with mounted images exactly the same way as with real physical drives, allowing you to fully recover the Proxmox storage structure and extract the required data from it.

To create an image, launch Hetman Partition Recovery, select the required drive from the list, and click the Save disk button.

In the window that appears, specify the file save location.

Note: the image size will be equal to the full capacity of the source disk, regardless of how full it is. Therefore, make sure in advance that the target storage device has enough free space.

After the image has been saved, go to the main menu and select Mount disk. In the list of types, select Raw disk images and load your file.

It will appear in the device list alongside physically connected drives. If you have multiple problematic drives, repeat this procedure for each one.

After all required drives are present in the system, either physically or as images, the program will automatically detect the LVM, file system, and virtual machine disk structure and display it fully ready for analysis and recovery.

How to recover data from Proxmox VE

Recovery from Directory Ext4

A Directory storage based on the Ext4 file system is one of the most straightforward formats in Proxmox. In addition to virtual disks in qcow2 or raw formats, it often stores ISO images, backups, or regular files.

In our example, we will consider a situation where the structure of such a Directory storage was accidentally deleted or damaged due to a system failure. However, even under these conditions, the data recovery process follows a completely standard scenario.

For the practical part, we will use Hetman Partition Recovery. This reliable professional solution allows you to thoroughly scan drives, find all lost data, and recover it safely while preserving the original folder structure as accurately as possible.

To find lost data, select the required physical drive or logical volume labeled Ext4 in the program and start the data scanning mode.

We recommend starting with Fast scan. If the file system structure is severely damaged and the quick search produces no results, use Full scan.

When the program finishes scanning, open the found Directory storage. Since in this particular case there was no virtual machine on the disk and only our test files were stored there, we will see the original folder structure of the Ext4 file system itself.

Now simply find the folder with our test data, select the required files, click the Recovery button, and specify the path to save them on a safe working drive.

Recovery from Directory XFS

Another popular data storage format in Proxmox is Directory storage based on the reliable XFS file system. Due to its high performance when working with large volumes of data, it is often used to store both virtual machine disks and large file archives.

Here it is important to note one very important detail. If your XFS storage was configured as a shared network folder and accessed via SMB or FTP protocols, the risk of accidental data deletion by users increases significantly. But even in this case, Hetman Partition Recovery can effectively find and recover information lost over the network.

The procedure remains as simple as possible. Select the detected logical partition labeled XFS from the list and start scanning.

If the files were simply deleted, the Fast scan mode is usually sufficient to find them. In more complex situations, for example after the logical structure of the volume has been damaged, use Full scan.

After the scanning process is complete, open the found file system. The program will correctly display the original directory structure with all existing and deleted data.

All you need to do is go to the appropriate storage folder, find the lost network documents or virtual machine images, select them, click the Recovery button, and save them to another prepared storage device.

Recovery from LVM storage

Often, loss of access to data is not related to accidental file deletion, but rather to a failure of the server hardware itself or critical errors in the Proxmox operating system.

In such situations, the entire workflow stops because access to the virtual machines and their storage becomes completely blocked. However, the data on the drives themselves usually remains intact. That is why we demonstrate the recovery process on a Windows computer, to which you only need to connect the drives disconnected from the failed server for further data recovery.

To solve such complex problems, we will use Hetman RAID Recovery.

In our situation, after connecting the disk with the LVM structure, the program was unable to automatically detect the file system type on which the virtual machine was located. This often happens after serious hardware or system failures.

Therefore, we select this unrecognized logical partition and start Full scan mode. This powerful algorithm thoroughly checks the disk surface and can reconstruct the file system structure even when basic service records are missing.

When the program completes Deep scan, it will reconstruct the internal structure of the lost guest operating system disk. After that, the procedure will already be familiar to you.

Since our virtual machine was running Windows 10 Pro, we simply open the found file system and go to the Users system directory.

Open your profile folder, find all the necessary personal files, select them, click the Recovery button, and specify the path to save them on a safe working drive.

Conclusion

Proxmox VE offers flexible data storage capabilities, supporting LVM, LVM-Thin, virtual machine disks, as well as Directory storage based on Ext4 and XFS file systems. Despite the platform’s high reliability, hardware failures, file system corruption, administrative errors, or accidental deletion of virtual machines can lead to loss of access to important data.

In most cases, this does not mean that the information is permanently lost. If you stop writing new data to the damaged storage in time and use specialized disk analysis tools, the chances of successfully recovering files, virtual machines, and their images remain very high.

We hope this material has helped you understand how data storage is organized in Proxmox, where VM disks and Directory storage are located, and which methods can be used to recover them. Proper diagnostics, regular backups, and knowledge of the recovery procedure will help minimize the consequences of any failures and quickly return the system to working condition.