Deleted snapshots - disk space not recovered

[saariko]

I have had a machine where all of the snapshots were deleted.

The Machine has 1 10GB hard disk, but as you can see, it has vmdk files that I think need not be there.

How do I recover that space?

[ankitnarchal]

Follow this document which will tell what all VMs have snapshots:

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-14357

Understanding Virtual Machine Snapshots in VMware ESX:  kb.vmware.com/kb/1015180

[saariko]

Hi all and thanks for all the help, and tips.

As for the Worker1, worker2 and 3: We have a base machine (that was once created) and every time we need an extra one, we upload it, give it a new number, and run it.  (I uploaded the Base - Worker screen shot  snap129.jpg)

I am trying to login with SSH to my vmware from my machine, but I get a: Network error: connection refuse.  So I am not sure how to login to the console.  I will look for it.

*I added the Worker 2 folder screen shot (snap130.jpg)

I add the VMX file of worker 2

I will try to get the headers files.

Thank you all.

[saariko]

Well, I still can't SSH to my mahcine, but I went from the satastore browser, and here is the vmdk file

[a_p_]

According to the vmdk files, both disks are base disks without parent disks (parentCID = ffffffff).

In this case the VM's don't rely on each other and therefore I'd recommend you shutdown the VM, create a new sub-folder, move the "BASE - XP Pro SP2.vmdk" (this includes the "BASE - XP Pro SP2-flat.vmdk") to this sub-folder (instead of deleting it right away) and then try to start the VM again. If I'm not mistaken, it should start without issues. In this case you may delete the moved vmdk.

I'm still not sure what caused the change of the base vmdk name though. I only saw this once, where a snapshot was copied to another datastore, this caused the delta file to be renamed to flat. However if s.th. like this was the case, the VM would not be able to run?

Even though I'm still confused, try the above. If there are any issues you can easily move the vmdk back to the Worker directory.

André

[saariko]

THANKS Andre !!

this works now.

so I moved the vmdk files (the old ones) and booted my machine. It works perfect.

So now I can delete these files.

I have other machines with the same situation, I guess I will do it to them as well.

Thank you very much, you have been most helpful

[a_p_]

You are welcome.

Before doing this with other VM's, take a look at the latest vmware.log file. If there's no reference to the "obsolete" base file you may move/delete it.

André