Move a single VM drive in vCenter without storage vMotion

[Sheridan]

As the title says, I'm in the position where I could really do with moving one of a VM's drives to another datastore to release some space. The school only has 3 hosts and a SAN - with 3 stores setup.

 

The license is only Essentials plus for Exsi 8 so doesn't come with the useful stuff! So is there a way to move a single drive (not all of the VM's drives - just one of the bigger ones) to another datastore using the basic tools? Can I just power it off and move the drive that way or does it have to be Migrated using the storage vmotion that they don't have?

 

I've never had to do this for a single drive on a Essentials license before so I'm not sure whats the best way, or is the best way to get a trial license for 30 days!

[willtech]

Try migrate both compute and storage at the same time it should allow you to move the storage to another datastore. You can do this with powered on and powered off vms. Edited July 24, 2024 by willtech

[Sheridan]

I've seen that, but also seen posts saying that the drive is missing after a VM reboot, as it thinks its still on the previous datastore (presumably as it wasn't done the 'licensed' way)

 

I think I'll try it out on a non important vm and see if that works!

[Davit2005]

Pretty sure you can move with with the VM off without vmotion. Just through the GUI.

 

Unfortunately I don't have access to ESXi anymore in my current role.