Which .vmdk disk are linked to VM

[robkelley]

Hi

I have a VM and I need to know which .vmdk files it relies on.

I have looked at the settings and I can see where the .vmx config points to.

In my Datastore I have:

\Windows01\ < all files are here and this is where the vmx is etc.

\Windows 02\ < this is where the above used to be before it was moved, there are still 2 huge .vmdk files in here.

I have tried to 'move' these files to another DS and whilst new copies are created, the old ones are not deleted which concerns me that maybe they are still in use.

I have renamed the folder to 'windows 02 - old' with no problem but can't risk breaking the VM by deleting these files (total of 12Gb).

Any advice please?

[mittim12]

You can use something like RVTools to get a lot of information on the VM. It should show what disk are assigned and so forth. It can be downloaded at the link below.

http://www.robware.net/

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[robkelley]

Thanks, great tool, but doesn't explain why the files haven't been removed.

[mittim12]

Well if RVtools shows that the path of the disk assigned to that VM as the same path where you have the files it means they are still in use and assigned to the VM. What method did you use to attempt and copy the files to a different datastore?

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[robkelley]

I used the 'Datastore - Browser' to move them.

The VM is set with 2 HD's one is 4Gb and the other 8Gb - both thick, attached is a scrn shot of the dir contents which do not have any .vmdk files of these sizes, but the 2 in question in the other folder are 4 & 8Gb.

I have been able to rename the other folder and the files themselves.

[mittim12]

Did you power it down before you moved it? Did you move it while it had snapshots in place? Can you upload your VMX file for review?

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[robkelley]

Did you power it down before you moved it? - no

Did you move it while it had snapshots in place? - yes

The folder I moved was the old one, I haven't done anything with the live folder that the vmx refers to.

There be a bit of confusion here due to my wording - appologies.

many months ago I moved the VM from A - B (example folder names as per 1st post), it seemed to leave some files behind. Now I am running low on space I decided to look into the files as I have to too worried to delete them in the past.

So as a test I moved the old folder to another datastore to see if it would affect the VM, it didn't but it did leave the 2 large vmdk files.

As there are no large vmdk files in the live location I am worried to delete anything until I know what is going on.

Is the datastore 'move' tool intelligent enough to update the live VM with the new location?

Can you upload your VMX file for review? - attached

[mittim12]

You can't move a VM using the DataStore browser while the VM is up and running. You really shouldn't move the storage location of a VM with snapshots in place either. My guess is the files are still being referenecd as the base disk by the snapshots. The safest thing would probably be to use VMware converter or something to move the VM to the correct datastore. This would end up committing the snapshots you have on the machine currently.

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[robkelley]

ok, thanks.

That fact the server is still running and seems Ok (Linux) should suggest there is no problemat the mo...???