Specifications

CHAPTER 6 Using Disks in a Virtual Machine
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Shrinking virtual disks is a convenient way to convert a virtual disk to the format
supported by GSX Server 3. Virtual disks created in the new format cannot be
recognized by earlier VMware products except for VMware Workstation 3.0 and
higher.
The virtual disks to be shrunk must not be booted as independent disks. You can
change the mode of a virtual disk before the virtual machine is powered on. See
Independent Disks on page 164.
Shrinking requires free disk space on the host equal to the size of the virtual disk being
shrunk.
Shrinking a disk is a two-step process: in the first step, called wiping, VMware Tools
reclaims all unused portions of disk partitions (such as deleted files) and prepares
them for shrinking. This allows for the maximum shrink possible. Wiping takes place in
the guest operating system.
The shrink process itself is the second step, and it takes place outside the virtual
machine. GSX Server reduces the size of the disk based on the disk space reclaimed by
the wipe process. This step occurs after the wipe finishes preparing the disk for
shrinking.
When a virtual machine is powered on, you shrink its virtual disks from the VMware
Tools control panel. You cannot shrink virtual disks if a snapshot exists. To remove an
existing snapshot, choose Snapshot > Remove Snapshot.
In a Linux or FreeBSD guest operating system, to prepare virtual disks for shrinking,
you should run VMware Tools as the root user. This way, you ensure the whole virtual
disk is shrunk. If you shrink disks as a non-root user, you cannot wipe the parts of the
virtual disk that require root-level permissions.
1. To launch the control panel in a Windows guest, double-click the VMware Tools
icon in the system tray or choose Start > Settings > Control Panel, then double-
click VMware Tools.
To launch the control panel in a Linux or FreeBSD guest, become root (su -),
then run vmware-toolbox.
2. Click the Shrink tab.
3. Select the virtual disks you want to shrink, then click Prepare to Shrink.
Note: If you deselect some of the partitions to wipe, the whole disk is still
shrunk. However, those partitions are not prepared for shrinking, and the shrink
process does not reduce the size of the virtual disk as much as it could
otherwise.