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As the title says, kvm disks that I converted and moved to ESXi are useless because I cannot use snapshots due to the fact that they are sparse disks. Does anyone have a resolution for this issue? esxi 5 free

1 Answers1

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Log onto ESXi server using SSH and convert with vmkfstools:

vmkfstools -i mysparedisk.vmdk -d eagerzeroedthick mythickdisk.vmdk

or alternatively...

vmkfstools -i mysparedisk.vmdk -d thin mythindisk.vmdk
slm
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Martin
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  • What if it was set to split at 2GB so that I have multiple vmdk files for a single virtual disk? Do I have to consolidate them first? If so what is the recommended way over ssh in esxi free (5.1)? If I don't, how do I do it without consolidating first? –  Sep 09 '13 at 02:43
  • vmkfstools does it all for you. Usually you have a disk1.vmdk file. This is a text file you can view in an editor. It references the real data files which are named like disk1-flat_.vmdk or maybe disk1-s.vmdk. Don't use vSphere's datastore browser as it'll hide stuff from you. Enable ssh support on your ESXi: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1017910 – Martin Sep 09 '13 at 22:01