it’s no good way to verify vmdk health because vmdk corrupted caused by physical i/o error and logical i/o error.

vmdk may be physical health but failed in booting or operating.

vmware kb always blames it’s hardware issue.
Not surprised for vmware support manner.

but we still can verify physical vmdk is damaged or not by the following command.

go to esxi and run

1) run fix check
# vmkfstools –fix check [src.vmdk]

2) run chain consistent
# vmkfstools -e [src.vmdk]

3) run a real clone to verify physical i/o errors
# vmkfstools -i [src.vmdk] [clone.vmdk]
# vmkfstools –fix check [clone.vmdk]
# vmkfstools -e [clone.vmdk]
# dd if=src-flat.vmk of=clone-flat.vmdk bs=1M

if you can not clone/backup/snapshot your VM, vmware recommends you re-install the VM. go to kb.vmware.com to check details. it’s always hardware fault, but question at vmware.

Remember it.

for me, hypervisor is free. I don’t waste a dollar on buying hypervisor, I invest people, not vTAX.