How to migrate just one hard disk to another datastore?

[Selfish_21]

Hi all.
I have a VM with 2 hard disks (2 partitions), one hard disk is for Windows System and the other one is for Data. The first hard disk is part of a data storage and the second hard disk is part of another data storage.
Now, I want to move the second hard disk from the current data storage to another one, because I don't have enough space for snapshots, Veeam B&R won't run too because of that, not in the best situation right now. What is the easiest and safest method to accomplish? Using vSphere client or vCenter? This is my first time doing it. Just need one disk from the VM to move, not the entire VM.

In the Migrate option (change storage only) I don't see option to move only one hard disk.

Thank you.

License: VMware vSphere 6 EssentialsPlusKit

[SCliffordBI]

From the vCenter, right click on the image and select migrate.  Choose Change storage only.  Choose Configure per Disk.  Select the disk you want to migrate.  Click Configure.  Select the new location for the new disk.  Click <Confirm> ... Then click Next.

The drive will migrate to the new location.

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Regards-
Stuart
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[a.tinivelli]

from this screen you can choose on a per-disk basis where you want to relocate the disks. you probably want to move the hard disk 2: click on storage and choose the desired datastore

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Alessandro Tinivelli | blog.tinivelli.com | www.revobyte.it | VMCE 2024 | Veeam Legend | VCP-DCV 2023 | VVSPHT 2023 | vExpert 2024
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[a_p_]

I'm afraid that you can't use the GUI for this, due to the limitation of you licensed edition.
There are other option which however require downtime (VM powered off).

One of them is to migrate/clone the virtual disk from the command line, and to attach the cloned disk to the VM.
Assuming the the target is the RAID6 datastore, and no "NG" folder already exists on this datastore, the following commands could be used:

mkdir "/vmfs/volumes/Storage-7.2K-RAID-6/NG"
vmkfstools -i "/vmfs/volumes/Storage-10K-RAID-10/NG/NG.vmdk" "/vmfs/volumes/Storage-7.2K-RAID-6/NG/NG.vmdk" -d thin

Note: "-t thin" is optional, and depends what you want/need.

Once cloned, make note of the virtual disk's SCSI-ID (in the VM's settngs), remove (don NOT delete from disk yet) the virtual disk from the VM's settings, save the configuration, then re-open the the settings again and attach the cloned virtual disk using the original SCSI-ID.

Before powering on the VM, I'd suggest that you rename the original virtual disk's folder to e.g. "NG-old". 
If everything (VM, backup) works as expected, you may then delete the old virtual disk.

André

[Lou Yovin]

PMJI: you can do this with Veeam, use trial  if you didn't buy. Backup VM. Restore VM, specifying different settings, and then select different datastore for the disk in question.

[Selfish_21]

Thank you all. I've just tried on a test VM and it works with vCenter, the Migrate option to move only the Disk.

[Selfish_21]

I thought everything will be straightforward but I encountered another issue. I want to move the second Hard Disk to another datastore as I said above, but I've just noticed that the datastore already holds the first Hard Disk. The problem is that both hard disks have the same folder name and vdmk file name, my fear is, if I migrate the second hard disk to the datastore where the first hard disk is there might be a conflict, the migration process will not start or there is a chance it will not be successfully. How will vCenter Migrate handle this situation? It will automatically rename the vdmk file from "NG.vdmk" to "NG-2.vdmk" and place it in the same "NG" folder ? I need to know for sure, there is no place for any mistakes. Need some help with this one, thank you in advance.