4.5

You can detach a persistent disk from its linked-clone desktop and store the disk on its original datastore or
another
datastore. After you detach the disk, the linked-clone virtual machine is deleted. A detached persistent
disk is no longer associated with any desktop.
You can use several methods to attach an detached persistent disk to another linked-clone desktop. This
flexibility has several uses:
n
When a linked clone is deleted, you can preserve the user data.
n
When an employee leaves the company, another employee can access the departing employee's user data.
n
A user who has multiple desktops can consolidate the user data on a single desktop.
n
If a virtual machine becomes inaccessible in vCenter Server, but the persistent disk is intact, you can import
the persistent disk and create a new linked clone using the disk.
NOTE You cannot detach a persistent disk from a Windows XP linked clone and recreate or attach the persistent
disk to a Windows 7 or Windows Vista linked clone. Persistent disks must be reconnected to the operating
system that was used when they were created.
View Manager can manage persistent disks from linked-clone pools that were created in View Manager 4.5.
Persistent disks that were created in earlier versions of View Manager cannot be managed and do not appear
on the Persistent Disks page in View Administrator.
Detach a View Composer Persistent Disk
When you detach a View Composer persistent disk from a linked-clone desktop, the disk is stored and the
linked
clone is deleted. By detaching a persistent disk, you can store and reuse user-specific information with
another desktop.
Procedure
1 In View Administrator, click Inventory > Persistent disks.
2 Select the persistent disk to detach.
3 Click Detach.
4 Choose where to store the persistent disk.
Option
Description
Use current datastore
Store the persistent disk on the datastore where it is currently located.
Move to the following datastore
Select a new datastore on which to store the persistent disk. Click Browse,
click the down arrow, and select a new datastore from the Choose a
Datastore menu.
5
(Optional) Click Save the OS Disk to store the linked clone's OS disk in vCenter Server.
You can retrieve the data in an detached OS disk in vCenter Server. However, the OS disk no longer exists
as a linked-clone desktop in View Manager, and you cannot directly recreate a desktop from the detached
OS disk. The OS data is saved with a copy of the base-image disk, so the stored disk can be larger than the
original linked-clone OS disk.
The View Composer persistent disk is saved on the datastore. The linked-clone desktop is deleted and does
not appear in View Administrator.
Chapter 9 Managing Linked-Clone Desktops
VMware, Inc. 171