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atariguy
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Unable to add additional hard drive to existing VM

I have a Windows file server set up as a virtual machine with ESXi 5.1. The storage currently being used is a 1008.47 GB virtual disk on a datastore that is contained in the host machine's internal drives.

The file server is running out of space, and the datastore it's using is also running out of space, so we bought a new storage array that we have connected all of our VMware hosts to. I've successfully created a new VM using the new storage, so I know there isn't a problem there.

Where my problem exists is trying to add an additional virtual drive to the file server VM. In the vSphere client, I click on Edit Settings, Add, then select Hard Disk. I then select Create a new virtual disk, chose a size of 500 GB, thick provision (I've also tried thin), and for the Location, I navigated to the new shared datastore, which has 4.43 TB free.

In the Advanced Options, I've left the Virtual Device Node setting at its default (SCSI (0:1)), and under Mode I've tried both leaving it alone and also Independent/Persistent.

No matter what options I try, I keep getting the same error message: "File [the name of the datastore] is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore [the name of the datastore]."

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atariguy
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The datastore was formatted with VMFS 5.58, with a block size of 1 MB. Its total capacity is 4.55 TB, with 4.43 TB currently free.


But it turned out to be a problem with vCenter, as indicated here (although in my case it wasn't related to vMotion):


Storage vMotion Compatibility Failed – File is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore

After restarting the vCenter appliance, I was able to successfully create the new virtual hard drive.

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joshopper
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atariguy
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The datastore was formatted with VMFS 5.58, with a block size of 1 MB. Its total capacity is 4.55 TB, with 4.43 TB currently free.


But it turned out to be a problem with vCenter, as indicated here (although in my case it wasn't related to vMotion):


Storage vMotion Compatibility Failed – File is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore

After restarting the vCenter appliance, I was able to successfully create the new virtual hard drive.

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