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Disktype-table


VMware Workstation uses this different types of virtual disks
                 
VMware-name plat-
form		 files max
size		 desc-
riptor
as
text-
file		 type * ext.
of descr.		 ext.
of data-chunk		  

monolithicSparse

 

 WS 1 950Gb no 0 ----- *.vmdk This is a growing disk in one piece - the only disk type that uses no external descriptor but an embedded one
monolithicFlat
 WS 2 950Gb yes 2 *.vmdk *-flat.vmdk This is a pre-allocated disk in one piece - it uses an external descriptorfile
monolithicSparse
snapshot		 WS 1 950Gb no - *.vmdk - monolithic snapshot - can grow to nominal size
                 
twoGbMaxExtentSparse
 WS 1 + x 2Gb yes 1 *.vmdk *-s001.vmdk this is a growing disk split into 2Gb chunks - it uses an external descriptorfile
twoGbMaxExtentFlat
 WS 1 + x 2Gb yes 3 *.vmdk *-f001.vmdk this is a preallocated disk split into 2Gb chunks - it uses an external descriptorfile
twoGbMaxExtentSparse
snapshot 		WS 1 + x 2Gb yes - *.vmdk *.vmdk snapshot split in chunks - max size 2Gb
                 
fullDevice
 WS 1 2kb yes - *.vmdk ----- this is a physical disk useing the full disk - it uses an external descriptorfile
partitionedDevice
 WS 1 +
MBR-file		 2kb yes - *.vmdk ----- this is a physical disk and you can allow access per partition - it uses an external descriptorfile
                 
vmfs ESX 2 depends on block size of VMFS3 yes   *.vmdk *-flat.vmdk this is a variant of "monolithicFlat" used on ESX. The max size depends on the block size used to format the VMFS3
vmfsSparse
snapshot 		ESX 1 + x depends on block size of VMFS3 yes - *.vmdk *.vmdk monolithic snapshot used by ESX
                 
custom WS             used to mount v2i-format

 

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=fffffffe
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="monolithicSparse"

# Extent description
RW 18432000 SPARSE "test.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "3"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "16383"
ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "ide"


"monolithicSparse"

This type uses an embedded descriptor
Avoid absolute paths with embedded descriptors!
Extract it from test.vmdk like this:
dsfo.exe test.vmdk 512 800 descriptor.txt
In case you need to edit it - inject it again like this:
dsfi.exe test.vmdk 512 800 descriptor.txt

Required files:


"test.vmdk"

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=fffffffe
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="monolithicFlat"

# Extent description
RW 27648000 FLAT "test-flat.vmdk" 0

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "3"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "16383"
ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "ide"

 


"monolithicFlat"

Required files:

"test.vmdk"
"test-flat.vmdk"

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=fffffffe
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

# Extent description
RW 4192256 SPARSE "test-s001.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "test-s002.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "test-s003.vmdk"
RW 1759232 SPARSE "test-s004.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "3"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "14222"
ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "ide"


"twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

 

Required files:

"test.vmdk"
"test-s001.vmdk"
"test-s002.vmdk"
"test-s003.vmdk"
"test-s004.vmdk"

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=fffffffe
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="twoGbMaxExtentFlat"

# Extent description
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f001.vmdk" 0
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f002.vmdk" 0
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f003.vmdk" 0
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f004.vmdk" 0
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f005.vmdk" 0
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f006.vmdk" 0
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f007.vmdk" 0
RW 3072000 FLAT "test-f008.vmdk" 0

# The Disk Data Base
#DDBddb.virtualHWVersion = "3"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "16383"
ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "ide"


"twoGbMaxExtentFlat"

Required files:

"test.vmdk"

"test-f001.vmdk"
"test-f002.vmdk"
"test-f003.vmdk"
"test-f004.vmdk"
"test-f005.vmdk"
"test-f006.vmdk"
"test-f007.vmdk"
"test-f008.vmdk"

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=54bcc741
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="fullDevice"

# Extent description
RW 156296385 FLAT "\\.\PhysicalDrive0" 0

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "6"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "9729"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.geometry.biosCylinders = "9729"
ddb.geometry.biosHeads = "255"
ddb.geometry.biosSectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
ddb.toolsVersion = "0"


"fullDevice"

Required files:

"test.vmdk"
PhysicalDrive0

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=526c949e
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="partitionedDevice"

# Extent description
RW 63 FLAT "test-pt.vmdk" 0
RW 24579387 FLAT "\\.\PhysicalDrive0" 63
RW 131716935 ZERO
RW 5103 ZERO

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB
ddb.adapterType = "ide"
ddb.geometry.biosSectors = "63"
ddb.geometry.biosHeads = "255"
ddb.geometry.biosCylinders = "1024"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "16383"
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4"
ddb.toolsVersion = "0"

 


"partitionedDevice"

Required files:

"test.vmdk"
"test-pt.vmdk"
PhysicalDrive0

   

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=7341dd22
parentCID=ffffffff
createType="vmfs"

# Extent description
RW 16777216 VMFS "test-flat.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4"
ddb.toolsVersion = "0"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "1044"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"


"vmfs"

Required files:

"test.vmdk"
"test-flat.vmdk"

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=33333333
parentCID=22222222


#parentCID=88450b5e
createType="vmfsSparse"
parentFileNameHint="test.vmdk"

# Extent description
RW 146800640 VMFSSPARSE "test-000001-delta.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.toolsVersion = "7202"

 

"vmfsSparse"

Required files:

"test-000001-delta.vmdk"
"test-000001.vmdk"

used for snapshots on ESX 3

 

 

 

# Disk Descriptor file
version=1
CID=e323f28b
parentCID=ffffffff
CreateType="custom"

# Extent Description
RDONLY 63 ZERO
RDONLY 156296322 V2I "virtual-pc-diskformat.v2i"
RDONLY 32130 ZERO

# The disk database
# DDB
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "4"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "9731"
ddb.geometry.heads = "255"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
ddb.adapterType = "buslogic"



"custom"

used for v2i disk format

note the usage of "RDONLY"

Required files:

"test.vmdk"
"virtual-pc-diskformat.v2i"

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=fa4e4198
parentCID=77ae5c02
createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"
parentFileNameHint="test.vmdk"

# Extent description
RW 4192256 SPARSE "test-000001-s001.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "test-000001-s002.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "test-000001-s003.vmdk"
RW 4192256 SPARSE "test-000001-s004.vmdk"
RW 8192 SPARSE "test-000001-s005.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "6"
ddb.toolsVersion = "0"

 


"twoGbMaxExtentSparse-snapshot"

Required files:

"test-000001.vmdk"
"test-000001-s001.vmdk"
"test-000001-s002.vmdk"
"test-000001-s003.vmdk"
"test-000001-s004.vmdk"
"test-000001-s005.vmdk"

 

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
CID=e1649e95
parentCID=e1649e95
createType="monolithicSparse"
parentFileNameHint="test.vmdk"

# Extent description
RW 16777216 SPARSE "test-000001.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

 

 


"monolithicSparse-snapshot"

Required files:

"test-000001.vmdk"

This type uses an embedded descriptor
Avoid absolute paths with embedded descriptors!

You can extract the descriptor from this type of snapshots the same way as mentioned with "monolithicSparse"



 

 



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