Can not select 2G sparse in VM creation

[scerazy]

VC 2.0.2

.vmdk exists, but can not select it when creating VM

Is that normal?

Seb

[esiebert7625]

So you're creating a new VM and trying to select an existing vmdk file? How was the drive you are trying to select created?

[oreeh]

ESX uses 2gb sparse disk for export/import NOT for prodcution.

Convert the disk into a normal ESX disk (thin or thick) using vmkfstools.

[scerazy]

It seems to have allowed me to only use thin:

vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/VMFS02/Folder/FreeBSD.vmdk -d thin /vmfs/volumes/VMFS02/Folder2/FreeBSD.vmdk

Thick as disk format was "Invalid destination disk"

Seb

[oreeh]

If you omit the destination format option (-d thin) you get a thick disk by default.

Excerpt from the vmkfstools manpage

SUPPORTED DISK FORMATS

These are the arguments that can be passed to the ´-d´ option for the

´-c´ (create virtual disk) and ´-i´ (clone virtual disk) operations.

`zeroedthick`

This is the default option when creating new virtual disks.

A zeroed thick disk has all space allocated at creation

time, and this space is wiped clean of any previous contents on the

physical media.

`eagerzeroedthick`

An eager zeroed thick disk has all space allocated and zeroed out at

creation time. Such disks may take longer time during creation

compared to other disk formats.

`thick`

A thick disk has all space allocated at creation time. This

space may contain stale data as it exists on the physical media.

`thin`

Space required for thin-provisioned virtual disk is allocated and

zeroed on demand as opposed to upon creation.

...