Thin to thick to thin again

Thin to thick to thin again

Well, found a solution to get my thick thin disks thin again.

Enable SSH on the ESXi system. Then login and use vmkfstools -i infile.vmdk outfile.vmdk -d thin to convert the vmdk to thin again. Then edit the VM, attach the new disk and remove the old one. Saves me gigabytes of space Smiley Happy

Comments

Will it automatically free up deleted file into free storage too?

Yes it will. In fact it will convert the thick file to a thin file, and afterwards you can delete the thick file.

I was told that while I can create VM using thin provisioning disk on our free ESXi Server thru evaluation license, when the license expired, those VMs with thin provisioning disks will no longer able to boot up after the evaluation period. Is this true?

In your case, if I use vmkfstools on our free ESXi Server, will these VMs able to boot up and function after a shutdown? Especially when they do not have the thin provisioning license?

ESXi is free and has no evaluation license. I run ESXi for over a year now with these thin disks and all is still fine.

Great! Thanks. Smiley Happy

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‎12-09-2009 12:11 AM
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