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I have a virtual machine on Vmware ESXI,

I have currently a defined hard disk and the size of it is :1.5 TB

But when I check the Datastore, there are 2 VMDK files which one of them (the main file of hard) have 1.3 TB size and there is another file (500 GB)

My physical space is going to be full, So I need to identify the second file which if it is used by virtual machine or not

The files names are: CL7_0.vmdk (main defined file) and CL7_1.vmdk (suspicious unused file)

How can I check if the virtual machine is using the second file?

I appreciate for any help

Farhad Sakhaei
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  • @boboes Hi, Yes, I have just 1 hard disk, the timestamp for the second file is : Sunday, June 03, 2018, 14:55:52 is there a way to ensure that this file is unused? – Farhad Sakhaei Nov 03 '18 at 09:20

1 Answers1

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I would do this:

  • Check if there are snapshots taken and, if possible, delete them first

  • Performing a full backup

  • Check the configuration of the VM if there is really only one hard disk configured

  • Download the [machinename].vmx file from the datastore, open it in notepad and check if there is any reference to "CL7_1.vmdk"
  • If there is no reference mount "CL7_1.vmdk" as harddisk in the virtual machine
  • Check the data and decide if it can be deleted

Edit:
 A virtual hard disk consists of two files. The MyVM.vmdk an MyVM-flat.vmdk file.

VMDK files.

All virtual disks are made up of two files, a large data file equal to the size of the virtual disk and a small text disk descriptor file, which describes the size and geometry of the virtual disk file. The descriptor file also contains a pointer to the large data file as well as information on the virtual disks drive sectors, heads, cylinders and disk adapter type. In most cases these files will have the same name as the data file that it is associated with (i.e., myvm_1.vmdk and myvm_1-flat.vmdk). You can match the descriptor file to the data file by checking the Extent Description field in this file to see which -flat, -rdm or -delta file is linked to it.

Quoted from vmware

marsh-wiggle
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  • Hi, Thank you for your guides, I checked vmx file and there isn't any reference to second file, I have no problem with current configuration, And so I don't need to know about the second file content, So can I delete it? or may be better to move it to another path, restart and check ? Because my real space is going to be full because of this file, I checked through SSH and there mentioned that this file is 500GB 500.0G Jun 3 10:25 CL7_1-flat.vmdk 67141956 -rw------- 1 root root 496 Jun 3 10:25 CL7_1.vmdk – Farhad Sakhaei Nov 03 '18 at 09:35
  • There is no snapshot too – Farhad Sakhaei Nov 03 '18 at 09:36