Thanks guys. I found a post about consolidation snaps and found that my vmdk CID's are out of whack with the parent. i'm backing up what i got then i'll try their suggestion to realign. i'll let you know what happens. thanks for the quick responses. i'll continue to monitor the thread if anyone else has any ideas.
Another idea....
Can i simply remove the D: drive and boot the VM again? i realize windows will be ticked, but at least i'm ahead of the game.
Secondly, assuming i can get this CID alignment thing works, is there any way to mount the hard drive to another VM to have a chance at removing some data?
thanks.