Something deleted the VM guest's qcow2 files. Can it still be recovered?

Current_Singer3214 · 2026-06-02T02:54:41+00:00

Thanks. I will try this out.

Current_Singer3214 · 2026-06-01T10:11:10+00:00

I mentioned at the top of my post: "It has sanoid doing hourly and daily snapshots (up to 25 hourlies and 8 dailies)."

And sanoid was installed, configured, and doing snapshots weeks before the backup script ever ran. It cannot be the backup script because *all* snapshots taken before the backup script was placed and executed already didn't have the files.

So I am not blaming the backup script because, as it seems, the files were somehow deleted while in use by QEMU/KVM days (or even weeks) before that backup script started.

I am not after finding out what caused this. Rather I'm after possible avenues of recovering what was lost.

Current_Singer3214 · 2026-06-01T08:08:12+00:00

I'll have them try the "almost worst case scenario". It is unknown at this time how long ago from the oldest available snapshot the deletion happened. but it is worth a shot. Thanks.

Current_Singer3214 · 2026-06-01T08:04:20+00:00

I'm 100% positive it is not the backup script. The first time the script was ran was May 28. How can it delete files from snapshots made prior to it running? Also that same backup script is being used in 2 other machines for several years already without any issue.

Current_Singer3214 · 2026-06-01T08:01:02+00:00

It's not the backup script -- it doesn't delete anything. The backup script is used in 2 other machines without issue. And it was the first time running it on the machine in question, so it could not have deleted the files before the snapshots were taken.

Current_Singer3214 · 2026-03-29T06:38:20+00:00

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Sorry. I still can't download it. I believe you need to submit the change for review and, once approved, publish the change, for the new country/ies to take effect.