Vmdk-flat __full__ -

The name "flat" refers to its linear, raw format—it is not sparse or compressed. Its size is exactly equal to the of the virtual disk. Critical Relationship: .vmdk (Descriptor) vs. -flat.vmdk There is a common misconception that a .vmdk file is the disk. In reality, for a typical monolithic virtual disk, you will see two files with similar names:

In VMware virtualization, a -flat.vmdk file is the raw data file that contains the actual written data of a virtual machine's hard disk. It is a binary file that directly represents the virtual disk's content, sector by sector. vmdk-flat

# Create a new descriptor pointing to the flat file vmkfstools -c <size> -a lsilogic newdisk.vmdk # Then replace the internal line to point to your flat file # Or use: vmkfstools -i old-flat.vmdk new.vmdk (might not always work directly) Better: Use vmkfstools --fixcheck or manually edit the descriptor. When converting from thick to thin, the -flat.vmdk is replaced by a sparse disk (which is a single .vmdk file containing both metadata and data). The flat file is deleted after conversion. The name "flat" refers to its linear, raw