Snapshot or clone?

[persico60]

Szenario:

VM Name=peDC1  Space reserved=90 GB, on I installed my Windows Server 2008R2 effective space with programs etc. is 40 GB. Now: I create a new VM Name=peDC2 60 GB on which I want revert the effective memory disk space (40GB) from peDC1  because I reserved to much Memory on peDC1. How can I do that?

Many thank for help

Antonio

[VMARA]

To be honest, Question is not Clear to me. I believe you are referring to the disk space and you need to reclaim the space from the 1st VM.

This all depends on the VM provisioning state. What is your Disk Provisioning type (Thick or Thin)? , If you use thin Provision disks you are able to use the not used space while provsioning the other VMs.

Also , you can re calim the unused space from even after you delete the data inside the thin disk from the "vmkfstools punchzero" (vmkfstools --punchzero vmname.vmdk).

Also read this kb article:

Using vmkfstools to reclaim VMFS deleted blocks on thin-provisioned LUNs (2014849) | VMware KB

[JorgeBuitrago]

If I understand correctly, what you want is to reduce the size of the virtual disk from 90GB to 60GB. You should use VMware Converter, converting the source VM as a Machine Source instead of a V2V (virtual to virtual conversion). This allows you to select a new virtual disk size for the converted VM (which requires file-level copy, so the source VM must be powered on throughout the process). Check these links:

Growing, thinning, and shrinking virtual disks for VMware ESX and ESXi (1002019) | VMware KB

Shrink VMDK using the VMware Converter Standalone