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raema
Contributor
Contributor

ESX -> vmplayer image. weird space requirement

I'm using converter to import a ESX image with a 100G virtual disk onto my desktop in vmware player format.

Converter appears to require that 100G of space be available on my desktop although the actual of the image is much much smaller after conversion.

Why is there a need for 100G of free space on my desktop? It doesn't appear to be transferring 100G from the ESX server, but I could be wrong.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

1. Did you resize the disk? You can see what the actual disk usage is and pick a smaller size than the disk size itself.

2. You can select a disk that grows in 2GB chunks rather than having one large file. The former will be smaller than the latter which is preallocated space.

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raema
Contributor
Contributor

Converter appears to automatically do the resizing from the 100G to around 1G providing I have 100G available on my desktop.

I didn't do any disk resizing. In fact, on the dialog box where you can resize, the text area for the size is grayed out.

I don't understand why I need 100G on my desktop when the resultant image is only around 1G.

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Immortal
Immortal

If you didn't select the disk resizing, Converter will assume you are going to create a preallocated disk of that size. Does Converter allow you to continue and check the "Allow virtual disk files to grow" and the checkbox "Split into 2GB files" option in the Disk Space Allocation screen? Or does it complain about disk space before you get to that screen?

If the latter, I suggest you resize the volumes.

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raema
Contributor
Contributor

Yes converter allows me to continue and I've always checked "Allow virtual disk files to grow". I click next and i wait while it says "Getting target disk size(s)". Then if I don't have 100G on my desktop hard drive, I get a dialog box with the error "There appears to be insufficient space in the specified destination to contain the imported virtual machine."

Now, if I have do have 100G of space on my desktop, the conversion happens just fine and the resultant image is only around 1G.

I'm wondering why I need 100G on my desktop if the resultant image is 1G after conversion.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Most likely a safety check, because in theory, the disk could grow to that size. I agree the limit seems a bit unreasonable since typically sparse vmdk files do not reach their actual limit. It would be ideal to check the actual disk used size and require maybe 20% on top of that for growth.

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raema
Contributor
Contributor

Yeah, I totally see how letting a vmdk have a max size larger than the actual free space could get someone in to trouble. I think giving a warning but still allowing the conversion would be good idea. As it is, to create my virtual appliance, I need to have 100G free space even if I'm not using that much space. I'm just allowing my users to use that much space if they wish on their machines.

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