Deleting vdm Disposable Disks [Zombie .vmdk files]?

[Devyn204]

Hi.

I've generated a report using the RVTools application and filtered all the "Possibly a Zombie vmdk file! Please check." options so I can attempt to free up space on many datastores.

The below disk (as an example) was flagged as a possible zombie vmdk file:

When I navigate to this particular VM and check the settings for the Disks currently attached to it this one does not appear, instead another disposable disk does.

So.... my question is can the original disk that had been flagged as being a zombie vmdk be removed since it doesn't appear to be attached to the VM anymore, or is it still linked to something somewhere??

Thanks to anyone for their help.

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

If RVTools detect is as zombie is cause that .vmdk is not present in any virtual machine configuration, but for safety, move that .vmdk to a temp folder in your datastore and wait some days before delete it.

[Devyn204]

Thanks for your help. I guess there is no way to be 100% sure so you should offload it for the mean time and remove it after you confirm nothing has broke?

I'll give that a go as I have 50+ just like this per datastore. I'm guessing Vmotion between databases causes this .vmdk to become orphaned.