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MikeGIllinois
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Reformatting My Datastore

Hi,

I have a 1.36 Terabyte ATA drive in my ESXi machine. The maximum size for a virtual machine is 256 gigs because my block size is 1 meg.

I need to create a 800 meg virtual. Based on my reading I have to reformat the datastore.

I have two virtual machines on this datastore that I want to preserve. My plan is to:

1. Export the two virtuals to ovf's.

2. Delete the datastore from within the VSphere Client.

3. Add the datastore back. Will I be prompted to reformat the datastore at that time??

If I am prompted I'll choose 8 meg blocks so I can have large virtuals.

Is my plan viable? I just can't remember if adding a datastore triggers the need for a new format. Do I even need to remove the datastore to reformat it once I've exported the virtuals to ovf's? I'd like to do this from with the VSphere Client if at all possible since I'm not real handy with linux commands.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Mike Gallery

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mcowger
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Mike,

1) I'd recommend exporting as VMware VMs, not OVFs.

2) Yup

3) Yes, you'll be prompted for the size on creation of the datastore.

This can all be done from the GUI.

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us

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mcowger
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Mike,

1) I'd recommend exporting as VMware VMs, not OVFs.

2) Yup

3) Yes, you'll be prompted for the size on creation of the datastore.

This can all be done from the GUI.

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
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MikeGIllinois
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"I'd recommend exporting as VMware VMs, not OVFs."

May I ask why you make this recoomendation?

In my client under File, Export, I don't have the option to export as a Virtual Machine.

Are you suggesting I use the VMWare Converter instead of exporting to an ovf?

The converter copies a machine, right? It doesn't move it?

Thank you.

Mike Gallery

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mcowger
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I'm recommending that so there is less translation happening.  By using converter (which does just copy), you enable the VM to stay in VMware's format, rather than converting to OVF.

Is OVF likely to work without problems?  Yes.  But using converter is basically guarenteed to work Smiley Happy.

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
MikeGIllinois
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Thank you!

Smiley Happy

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