If your Morro virtual CacheDrive's root or data volume is running out of space but your VM host's datastore is full, you can move the root or data volume to another datastore, then expand it.


In this article, we will move and expand the root volume of a Morro virtual CacheDrive. The virtual CacheDrive has a 24GB virtual drive in the ssd-store for root and two virtual drives in the hdd-store for cache.


Note: The process described below uses the ESXi 6.4 web interface, not vSphere, and does not require any additional VMWare licenses.


The steps are:


1. Update the virtual CacheDrive to the latest firmware.

For more information about updating the virtual CacheDrive's firmware, see How do I update the device firmware?


2. Shutdown the virtual CacheDrive from MCM.

For more information about shutting down the virtual CacheDrive, see the Shutdown section of Manage Device - Maintenance


3. Backup the vmdk file.

From the Datastore browser, right-click the vmdk file and select Download in the menu. This will download 2 files, the meta disk file ({diskname}.vmdk) and the actual disk image file ({diskname}-flat.vmdk).


Note: If you are using Chrome, a dialog will ask for permission for multiple file download. Click "Allow".


4. Move the virtual disk to the new datastore.

  1. Open the Datastore browser and navigate to the disk ({diskname}.vmdk). Right click the disk, then select Move. This will move the meta disk file.

    Note: The disk image consists of two files, the meta disk file ({diskname}.vmdk) and the actual disk image file ({diskname}-flat.vmdk). The Datastore browser will hide the actual disk image file if the meta disk file exists in the folder. Therefore, copying the meta disk file leaves the actual disk image file hidden. We recommend using Move instead.


  2. Select the new location, then click Move.


  3. Check Tasks for move progress. The move should complete quickly.


  4. Move the actual disk image file ({diskname}-flat.vmdk). This might take a very long time depending on the size of the file and physical disk speed. A 100GB root disk may take up to several minutes, but a large data volume (such as 20TB) might take much longer (half an hour or more).


5. Reconfigure the VM.

  1. Delete the old disk which still points to the old datastore.


  2. Click Save. Be sure not to check "Delete files from datastore".


  3. Add the moved disk from the new datastore. Click "Add hard disk" > "Existing hard disk".


  4. From the Datastore browser, select the disk image from the new datastore.


6. Start the VM and verify that it runs normally using the moved disk image.

 


7. Shutdown the virtual CacheDrive from MCM.


8. Resize the virtual disk.

Increase the virtual disk size and click Save.


Note: The disk number may change in step 5. Make sure that you are resizing the right disk.


9. Power up the VM and verify that the disk size has increased.