How do shrink or remove files safely from my vm files?

Do you use Snapshots? Check Snapshot Manager?

Background reading of Snapshots....


A snapshot is NOT a backup of a VM; that is a gross misconception.  

A snap shot is a way to preserve a point in time when the VM was running OK before making changes. A snapshot is NOT a way to get a static copy of a VM before making changes.  When you take a snapshot of a VM what happens is that a delta file gets created and the original VMDK file gets converted to a Read-Only file.  There is an active link between the original VMDK file and the new delta file.  Anything that gets written to the VM actually gets written to the delta file.   The correct way to use a snapshot is when you want to make some change to a VM like adding a new app or a patch; something that might damage the guest OS. After you apply the patch or make the change and it’s stable, you should really go into snapshot manager and delete the snapshot which will commit the changes to the original VM, delete the snap, and make the VMDK file RW. The official stance is that you really shouldn’t have more than one snap at a time and that you should not leave them out there for long periods of time. Adding more snaps and leaving them there a long time degrades the performance of the VM.  If the patch or whatever goes badly or for some reason you need to get back to the original unmodified VM, that’s possible as well.  

I highly recommend reading these 2 articles on VMware Virtual Machine Snapshots:

Understanding Snapshots - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015180
Snaphot Best Practices - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1025279

Also check out the following Snapshot Articles by Eric Siebert

Pt.1- http://is.gd/Lajg4p
Pt.2- http://is.gd/NdKQWC
Pt.3- http://is.gd/tp2vEK

i understand the snapshot deal. included pic of files after i created a snapshot todate

tried deleting some files but no matter which one I delete the vm wont start without it

Can you start the VM?

What error message do you get?

snapshots are present.

Just Deleted the snapshots. When I delete file mailsever-1 then it can't find mail server-1-0000

Can you start the VM?

Please do not delete files, this is dangerous and you may lose data and the VM.

what files have you deleted, and before you started randomnly deleting files, did the virtual machine startup and power on correctly?

It can power up, but the host has 50 mb of hd space left

Wasn't permanently removing them just moving out of datastore folder

The only way to remove a Snapshot, is to Delete them from the Menu.

Select Snapshot Manager, and Delete the Snapshot there.

I did, but I am still left with the space issue. I now have 75mb of hd space on the host. I have to beagle to get rid 1 of these files. Some of them have not been used since may of 2011. Can't I edit the vmx config file?

Do any snapshots show in the Snapshot Manager?

If not, complete the following:-

1. Create a new snapshot wait 60 seconds
2. Delete the snapshot.

this can be done when the VM is off.

Do you have any snapshots left in the folder?

No snapshots left. I deleted thru the vm mgr

okay, do you still have snapshot files growing on the disk though

sometimes you can have snapshots that are not listed.

complete this.

1. Create a new snapshot wait 60 seconds
2. Delete the snapshot.

this can be done when the VM is off.

I made sure that all files are visible and no other snapshots. Followed your instructions and no there are no Snapshots, but I'm still not able to remove any files. I need to find a way to shrink or remove some of these files

screenshot please

also how many disks attached to the VM, and screenshot of ALL disk settings in VM

When you say disks attached to the vm (please be patient w/me) your referring to how many hard drives does the vm have? and disk settings? When you say disk settings are you referring to the vmx settings?

mailserver-settingVMX.txt

vmerror.JPG

so it has four disks.

vm is still running on snapshot.

you will need to use VMware Converter to complete a V2V which will create a new VM without this issue.

I would recommend and use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0 or 4.3.

and if you do use VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0, and you want to make your transfers 60% faster checkout my EE article here

HOW TO: Improve the transfer rate of a Physical to Virtual (P2V), Virtual to Virtual Conversion (V2V) using VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0

Download VMware vCenter Converter 5.0 here
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0 Documentation
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0 User Guide


Download VMware vCenter Converter 4.3 here
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.3 Documentation
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.3 User Guide


If you have issues, you may want to consult the following articles and guides

Read fellow Expert Bestway's article.

Best Practice Video Guide here


Some Videos I've develeoped for Experts Exchange

A Tutorial video by me:- Restore a Virtual Machine using the FREE VMware vCenter Converter to VMware vSphere 4.x, 5.0 ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.0, ESX 4.0

A Tutorial video by me:- Backup VMware vSphere 4.x, 5.0 ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.0, ESX 4.0 for FREE using VMware vCenter Converter

A Tutorial video by me:- VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Process at work

A Tutorial video by me:- VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0 Convert monolithic sparse to monolithic flat for use with VMware vSphere 4.x 5.0 ESXi 4.x 5.0

While doing as you asked I did begin to notice some differences as you will once you have viewed the excel file. Also I noticed some files not listed in the vmx files. But when I remove lets say the mailserver-1.vmdk the vm cant start and it states it cant find the MailServer_2-000001.vmdk. Of course I placed it back & no wit runs. But Im running out of files to delete

 vmsinfo.xlsx

I dont have any space to run the converter. in fact I had to uninstall it for space.

The total size of the vm folder is 336GB. Its an exchange server back-end. A vm that size will be converting for awhile. I cant afford to be offline which is why Im a lil nervous, but there is no way to edit the vmx either?  Should I create another vm to offload the work then convert?

can i add a usb storage device and make it a datastore then move the vm to it and have the vmware server 2.0 read from it?

USB would be very slow.

I'm afraid those are you options, increase host datastore space, or use Converter.

YOU CANNOT REMOVE ANY FILES.
YOU CANNOT DELETE ANY FILES.

Currently the VM is in snapshot mode, and writing to snapshot disks, that will continue to grow and fill up the disk..

How do I snapshot mode?

Stop snapshot mode

It does not look like you can.

We've tried.

the host is on a dell poweredge 2850 with 6 scsi disks. I want to switch out one of the drives for a much larger drive so I can havce space to convert it. Any ideas?, but Im a little concerned that I will pull wrong the drive and it wont work.

You need to raise a new question on swapping drives.

cant go wrong listening to this guy