When users delete data from a virtual machine, the storage space from NTFS partitions is not immediately returned to the NFS datastore. You can reclaim the space to return it to the datastore. Reclaiming space from VMFS-based virtual machines is not supported.
To reclaim the space, VSC powers off a virtual machine by using VMware Tools. Make sure this is an acceptable time to take the virtual machine offline. After the process completes, VSC returns the virtual machine to its previous state.
You can perform this task on an individual virtual machine or on a datastore, which reclaims space from all virtual machine disks in a datastore. If you do not want to take all of the virtual machines in a datastore offline, reclaim the space from one virtual machine at a time.
To... | Do the following... |
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Reclaim space from all virtual machines in a datastore | From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click Storage. |
Reclaim space from one virtual machine | From the vSphere Web Client Home page, click VMs and Templates. |
Do not power on the virtual machines while space reclamation is in progress.