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dkounelas
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Vcenter snapshots taking all hard space and crashing virtual server

i created a snapshot of a virtual machine (windows 2008 sbs) after completing the install and all updates just as a starting point should anything happen. since that snapshot, we have added a pass through device to the VM so snapshots are no longer be created or restored to. according to windows sbs, the drive space is 200 out of 420 gigs in use. while copying over a 50 gig file, the vm crashed reported that there was not enough free space. I cleaned up some files and got the vm restarted. i looked into the storage veiw and noticed 2 files, servername-000001.vmdk and servername-vmdk. i have tried to delete the snapshot through the snapshot manager but it does nothing. can i manually delete the snapshot through the storage view? and if so which file? i ask because if i edit the vm setting and select the hard drive, it references the servername-000001.vmdk. thanks for your comments

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continuum
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> can i manually delete the snapshot through the storage view? and if so which file?

NO

you will lose data if you delete the 000001.vmdk manually.
You should consolidate the snapshot using Snapshotmanager.

Do you get any errors when trying "delete all" in snapshotmanager ?


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Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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continuum
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> can i manually delete the snapshot through the storage view? and if so which file?

NO

you will lose data if you delete the 000001.vmdk manually.
You should consolidate the snapshot using Snapshotmanager.

Do you get any errors when trying "delete all" in snapshotmanager ?


________________________________________________
Do you need support with a VMFS recovery problem ? - send a message via skype "sanbarrow"
I do not support Workstation 16 at this time ...

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dkounelas
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thanks for the reply, i had to shutdown the vm, remove the pass through device from the settings. once that was done, i was able to delete the snapshot through the user interface. this freed up the drive space. thanks for the input

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danpalacios
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Technically, you CAN deletea snapshot file, but Continuum is right, you SHOULD NOT do so unless it is unavoidable.  If you do so you will eseentially be back to what the system was before the snapshot, and my guess is you don't want that.

Removing a snapshot (especially a large one) can take a long time to complete.  It can also take additional disk space as it merges the two files.  Do you have a way to give it more space?  Also, what is the passthrough deivce you are mentioning?  Is it an iSCSI lun attached to the OS or a RAW disk?

dkounelas
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it is a pci-e card with an external e-sata connection used for backup exec inside the vm. thanks for the reply

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Heimatplan
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For an Point-in-Time-Backup of the state its better do create a clone or export an ovf-template in case you use ESXi.

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