Create an Expandable Disk on a Managed Destination

To save space on the destination datastore, you can copy only the existing data from a source virtual disk and create an expandable disk on the destination. Later, as you use the destination virtual machine and write new data, the destination virtual disk grows.

You can create expandable disks on managed destinations that support thin provisioning through their GUI.

You can create an expandable disk by using volume-based or disk-based cloning.

Prerequisites

On the Options page of the Conversion wizard, click Data to copy in the options list.

Procedure

• Use disk-based cloning to create an expandable disk.
  1. From the Data copy type drop-down menu, select Copy all disks and maintain layout.
  2. Click a virtual disk and select Thin from the Type drop-down menu.
  3. To apply your settings, select another option from the options list or click Next.
• Use volume-based cloning to create an expandable disk.
  1. From the Data copy type drop-down menu, select Select volumes to copy and click Advanced.
  2. Select the Destination layout tab, click a virtual disk, and select Thin from the Type drop-down menu.
  3. To apply your settings, select another option from the options list or click Next.

Results

Converter Standalone copies only the existing data to the destination datastore. The empty disk space from the virtual disk is not copied to the datastore. As you use the destination virtual machine and write new data to the disk, the size of the destination disk grows.