VMWare Disks

To merge pieces of a virtual disk image that is split into multiple 2GB files back into one file, use

vmware-vdiskmanager.exe

There are some GUI tools that server as wrappers around it, should you need them. Some of these GUI tools are the following:

• DiskMan
• Devfarm tools

Disk Manager is also used to increase the size of a virtual hard drive image or perform other maintenance operations.

 

VMware Virtual Disk Manager - build 126130.
Usage: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe OPTIONS <disk-name> | <mount-point>
Offline disk manipulation utility
  Operations, only one may be specified at a time:
     -c                   : create disk.  Additional creation options must be specified.  Only local virtual disks can be created.
     -d                   : defragment the specified virtual disk. Only local virtual disks may be defragmented.
     -k                   : shrink the specified virtual disk. Only local virtual disks may be shrunk.
     -n <source-disk>     : rename the specified virtual disk; need to specify destination disk-name. Only local virtual disks may be renamed.
     -p                   : prepare the mounted virtual disk specified by the drive-letter for shrinking.
     -r <source-disk>     : convert the specified disk; need to specify destination disk-type.  For local destination disks the disk type must be specified.
     -x <new-capacity>    : expand the disk to the specified capacity. Only local virtual disks may be expanded.
     -R                   : check a sparse virtual disk for consistency and attempt to repair any errors.

  Other Options:
     -q                   : do not log messages

  Additional options for create and convert:
     -a <adapter>         : (for use with -c only) adapter type (ide, buslogic or lsilogic)
     -s <size>            : capacity of the virtual disk
     -t <disk-type>       : disk type id

  Options for remote disks:
     -h <hostname>        : hostname of remote server
     -u <username>        : username for remote server
     -f <filename>        : file containing password
     -P <port>            : optional TCP port number (default: 902)
     -S                   : specifies that the source disk is remote, by default  the remote options are assumed to refer to the destination.
  Disk types:
      0                   : single growable virtual disk
      1                   : growable virtual disk split in 2GB files
      2                   : preallocated virtual disk
      3                   : preallocated virtual disk split in 2GB files
      4                   : preallocated ESX-type virtual disk
      5                   : compressed disk optimized for streaming

     The capacity can be specified in sectors, KB, MB or GB.
     The acceptable ranges:
                           ide adapter : [1MB, 950.0GB]
                           scsi adapter: [1MB, 950.0GB]
        ex 1: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -c -s 850MB -a ide -t 0 myIdeDisk.vmdk
        ex 2: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -d myDisk.vmdk
        ex 3: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 0 destinationDisk.vmdk
        ex 4: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -x 36GB myDisk.vmdk
        ex 5: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -n sourceName.vmdk destinationName.vmdk
        ex 6: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -r sourceDisk.vmdk -t 4 -h esx-name.mycomp
any.com \
              -u username -f passwordfile "[storage1]/path/to/targetDisk.vmdk"
        ex 7: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -k myDisk.vmdk
        ex 8: vmware-vdiskmanager.exe -p <mount-point>
              (A virtual disk first needs to be mounted at <mount-point>)