Each hard disk of a VM consists of two .vmdk files:
- one is a text file (descriptor file) containing descriptive data about the virtual hard disk; the name of the file is myvm.vmdk
- the second is the actual content of the disk; the name of the file is myvm-flat.vmdk
Normally when browsing the datastore in the vSphere Web or C# Client, only the first .vmdk file is showed, and the size of the file is showed the total of both .vmdk files. I used to mislead by this and thought only one .vmdk for each VM hard disk.
only one .vmdk file is showed, and note its size and type
But when SSH to the ESXi host and list the content in the VM folder, both .vmdk files are showed.
If you manually move the first .vmdk file to another folder using the vSphere Client (when the VM is powered off), the –flat.vmdk file will show in the datastore when browsing in the vSphere Client.
moving the .vmdk file to a different folder
after moving, the .vmdk file is at the new location, but its size and type are changed
after moving, the –flat.vmdk file is showed at the original location. note its size and type
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