1. Shut down the virtual machine. Virtual machine disk files are locked while in-use by a running virtual machine.
2. Log in to the VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA). Alternatively, open a command-line interface after deploying the VMware vSphere CLI (vCLI). If terminal access is required:
    
   • For VMware ESX 4.x and 3.x, log in via the terminal or SSH. For additional information, see Connecting to an ESX host using a SSH client (1019852).
   • For VMware ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.x, see Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.0 (1017910).
   • For VMware ESXi 4.0 and 3.x, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677).
      
3. Run these vmkfstools command to clone the disk from one format to another:

From the ESX/ESXi terminal:

vmkfstools -i input output -d format -a adaptertype

From vMA/vCLI:

vmkfstools --server <vCenter or ESX IP/Hostname> -i input output -d format -a adaptertype

For example, to clone examplevm.vmdk from Datastore to Datastore 2 and thin-provision the destination copy:

Note the selection of examplevm-000001.vmdk , as opposed to examplevm.vmdk for the input file. Snapshot delta disk files are appended a sequencing number, differentiating one snapshot delta disk iteration or level from another. Selecting the most recent delta disk ensures that the most recently stored data is cloned to the destination.

Note: Running the vmkfstools -i command creates a cloned drive with an LSI controller, even if the source disk is using VMware Paravirtual. This results in the virtual machine failing to boot. To resolve this issue, change the controller type to the same as the source.

For more information on steps to identify a virtual machine's current snapshot, see Confirming a virtual machine's snapshot delta disk layout (1027887).

Note: This process only clones the disk that was specified in the command. To register the newly cloned disk / VM into inventory, it requires a .vmx file. Manually copy the .vmx from the cloned VM and adjust the .vmx file to provide the path to the newly cloned disks or create a new VM from the UI and select the cloned disks in the Hard Disk section. 

• zeroedthick
  
  This is the default option for virtual machine disks created and stored on a VMFS datastore.
   
• thin
   
  This is the default option for virtual machine disks stored on an NFS datastore. It allocates and commits space on demand, growing as more virtual disk space is used.
  
  Note: The configured size of thin-provisioned disks is correctly displayed using the ls command. The disk space consumed by disk files on a datastore is determined using the du command.
• eagerzeroedthick
   
  This is a specified format required for cross-host virtual machine clustering and VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) virtual machines. All blocks for the virtual machine disk are allocated and committed with written zeroes at the time of creation. Existing disks can be inflated to this format without destroying existing data. For more information, see Enabling clustering features for an existing virtual disk by converting in place (1035823) and Enabling clustering features for an existing virtual disk by converting while copying (1003491).
   
• rdmp
   
  This is the default Raw Device Mapping format with Physical compatibility mode. Most SCSI commands are passed-through to the guest operating system to/from a mapped physical raw LUN. This is required for cross-host virtual machine clustering; both virtual machines share the same mapping file. This format does not support virtual machine snapshots. For more information, see
  Converting a virtual disk into a Raw Device Mapping (3443266).
• rdm
   
  This is an additional available Raw Device Mapping format with virtual compatibility mode set. A subset of SCSI commands are passed-through to the guest operating system to/from a mapped physical raw LUN. An added benefit of this format is the support of virtual machine snapshots. For more information, see
  Converting a virtual disk into a Raw Device Mapping (3443266).
• 2gbsparse
   
  This format is compatible with Hosted (desktop) products such as VMware Fusion, Player, Server, Workstation, etc. Virtual machine disks are spanned across several 2GB extents to eliminate potential cross-platform file system compatibility issues. For example, FAT32 supports a maximum file size of 4GB. This format is not supported for running virtual machines in VMware ESX/ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.x.
  
  Note: For SDK purposes, this property is known as sparse2GB in ESXi 5.0 and later. For more information, see Scope of the sparse2GB property in the vSphere API (2044714) and the VirtualDiskType section of the vSphere Web Services SDK Documentation.

• Review the manual pages on VMware ESX 3.x and 4.x by running: man vmkfstools
• Review command information on ESXi 3.x and 4.x hosts or vMA and vCLI by running: vmkfstools --help
• For more information, see the Using vmkfstools section in the ESX Configuration Guide on the product documentation pages for your respective version of VMware ESX/ESXi.

See Also:

• Converting a virtual IDE disk to a virtual SCSI disk (1016192)