2TB VMDK File Issue

[cjpike]

Hello,

In a hurry to get a new CentOS VM up yesterday I created a new Virtual Machine with a 2TB virtual disk. I left all the options as default so it is a 'Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed' disk and Virtual Machine Version 8.

I can't now snapshot as it comes up with the error: "File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by the datastore <unspecified datastore>". I now realise this is a limitation and that I should have made the virtual hard drive slightly smaller as to not hit this limitation but what is done is done.

What is the best way to reduce the size of this disk firstly within ESXi and secondly within CentOS?

I have another server I can use if needed but this VM needs to be kept in tact.

Thanks,

Chris

[SatyS]

The error is because the maximum storage space allowed cant be greater than 2TB.

Now in order to reduce the disk size,

-Use VMware Converter and resize the disk. This will reduce the size of the disk both in the guest and on the VMFS partition, but requires a brief amount of downtime to swap between the original VM and the converted VM.

-Use Storage vMotion along with thin provisioning in vSphere to resize the disk on the VMFS partition but leave it the original size in the guest.

Regards,

SatyS

If you find this useful,mark the answer as correct/helpful

[continuum]

Do you have unpartitioned space at the end of the drive as seen from the guest ? - if yes - is the allocated space below the limit ?

[cjpike]

Unfortunately all the space has been allocated with the VM.

I have tried VMware Converter, but I am getting the error highlighted in this post: Conversion fails with kernel error.

If I can get VMware Converter to work this would be my preferred method. Thank you both for your replies.