Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware Server Virtual Machine Guide
144 VMware, Inc.
VMware!DiskMount!mounts!individual!volumes!of!a!virtual!disk.!For!optimal!
shrinking!of!a!virtual!disk,!you!should!mount!all!the!volumes!and!prepare!them!for!
shrinking.
After!you!mount!a!virtual!disk!volume,!use!the!virtual!disk!manager!to!prepare!the!
volume!for!shrinking.!After!you!prepare!a!volume,!unmount!
it,!and!repeat!the!process!
for!each!volume!of!the!virtual!disk.!After!you!prepare!all!the!volumes!of!the!virtual!
disk,!you!can!shrink!the!virtual!disk.!For!examples,!see!“Preparing!a!Virtual!Disk!for!
Shrinking”!on!page 145!and!“Shrinking!a!Virtual!Disk!on!page 146.
Examples Using the VMware Virtual Disk Manager
The!following!examples!illustrate!how!to!use!the!virtual!disk!manager.!You!run!the!
virtual!disk!manager!from!a!command!prompt.
Creating a new Virtual Disk
To!create!a!new!virtual!disk,!use the following:
vmware-vdiskmanager -c -t 0 -s 40GB -a ide myDisk.vmdk
This!creates!a!40GB!IDE!virtual!disk!named!myDisk.vmdk.!The!virtual!disk!is!contained!
in!a!single!.vmdk!file.!The!disk!space!is!not!preallocated.
Converting a Virtual Disk from
To!convert!a!virtual!disk!from!preallocated!to!a!growable!disk, use the following:
vmware-vdiskmanager -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 0 targetDisk.vmdk
This!converts!the!disk!from!its!original!preallocated!type!to!a!growable!virtual!disk!
consisting!of!a!single!virtual!disk!file.!All!of!the!virtual!disk!space!is!no!longer!
preallocated,!and!the!virtual!disk!manager!reclaims!some!disk!space
!in!the!virtual!disk!
so!it!is!only!as!large!as!the!data!contained!within!it.
Expanding the Size of an Existing Virtual Disk
To!expand!the!size!of!a!virtual!disk,!use!the!following:
vmware-vdiskmanager -x 40GB myDisk.vmdk
This!increases!the!maximum!capacity!of!the!virtual!disk!to!40GB.
Renaming a Virtual Disk
To!rename!a!virtual!disk,!first!remove!it!from!any!virtual!machine!that!contains!the!disk!
(choose!VM!>!Settings!>!<virtualdisk>,!click!Remove).!
Use!the!following: