Delete snapshot in full datastore (delete a disk before delete the snapshot)

[alivn]

Hi guys i need a help,

My Acronis took a snapshot for backup 4 mounts a go and the snapshot is still there. (Esxi 5.5)

My Data store is 5.5 TB and now free space is only 10GB.

I read many discussions  about this situation and all solutions like migrate to a bigger datastore which I think that's the best one.

But my VM is a Windows server with 4 Disks, one disk is using only for Shadow copy and I can get rid of it.

but I dont' know with an active snapshot can I delete one of drive in VM and delete the snaphsot after that?

thank you for your help

[G1LL1US]

4 months is a while ago. How critical is the snapshot? Your Windows VM has 4 disks at what allocated size per disk? If the VM is active then each snapshot delta file is growing to the max allocated size for each disk. If the snapshot is not critical I would delete it and then re-run Acronis backup or ask for more storage but you get the storage you will encounter the same problem sooner rather than later. Don't let snapshots linger...

[alivn]

Data store is 5.5 TB

windows has 300 GB for OS, 3 Disks each 1TB of data and one 500 GB drive for shadow copy. VM is up and running 24/7.

snapshot is not important and I want to delete but the problem is I don't have enough space on datastore.

I just want to know that can Idelete the 500GB Disk before delete the snapshot to make some room?

after thet can I delete thesnapshot without any error?

[continuum]

First of all we need to know wether the basedisks are thick provisioned.
If you used thin provisioned basedisks all attempts to delete the snapshot will very likely fill up the datastore while eventually killing the VM.
You should plan a maintenance break for the VM to resolve the issue while the VM is powered off.
Please provide a filelisting of the directory of the VM( make sure all files are displayed with their full name, date and size) and attach the vmx-file and the latest vmware.log

[alivn]

Hi,

Disks are Thick provisioned in data store, the size of the vmdk disk files are the same as my drives in VM.  that's the  snapshot is filling up the datastor.

I need to know if I delete one of this disks which is not important in my VM, what happens next?

because there is a snapshot of that disk as well, can I delete the snapshot after without error?

[continuum]

Without the details I asked for the only safe suggestion is to power off the VM as soon as possible.
Then use vmkfstools -i to clone each disk you need to keep to another datastore.

[G1LL1US]

The sequence of deletion shouldn't matter. You will get space back after you delete the snapshot. Once you delete the snapshot check your datastore size and then make the determination if you need to delete the 500GB disk. A snapshot is the configuration of a VM at a point in time, deleting the snapshot will not impact the current VM especially if you don't plan to revert to that snapshot. Those snapshot delta vmdks are growing to the capacity of each disk. Once you delete the snapshot the deltas transfer changes to the main vmdk and are deleted. In essence I would delete snapshot, then delete the disk. Hope this helps.  

[continuum]

> You will get space back after you delete the snapshot.
Wow - and what if the VM decides to create a temporary snapshot for the deletion ? - then the datastore will very likely run out of space and the VM maybe toast.
Be careful with advice that can destroy a VM !!!

[G1LL1US]

Snapshot deltas usually start out at 16MB per disk, with 10GBs left on the datastore there shouldn't be a concern if a VM takes a temporary snap for the deletion. alivn​ although I'm confident with my answers to side with continuum the safest bet for you is to migrate the VM to a larger datastore and then attempt. Based on your information if the VM snap was taken 4 months ago and the system is on 24/7 and being used then the snap files are definitely your main concern. Snap deltas don't care about thick or thin provisioning on the disk, because you have 3 1TB disk each delta can grow to 1TB each.