vmdk - this is a redo-log file, created automatically when a virtual machine has one or more snapshots. If the virtual machine is connected directly to a physical disk, rather than to a virtual disk, the vmdk file stores information about the partitions the virtual machine is allowed to access.Įarlier VMware products used the dsk file extension for virtual disk files. (If you specify that all space should be allocated when you create the disk, these files start at the maximum size and do not grow.) Almost all of a vmdk file's content is the virtual machine's data, with a small portion allotted to virtual machine overhead. If you have specified that the virtual disk should be split into 2GB chunks, the number of vmdk files depends on the size of the virtual disk.Īs data is added to a virtual disk, the vmdk files grow in size, to a maximum of 2GB each. VMDK virtual disk file stores the contents of the virtual machine's hard disk drive.Ī virtual disk is made up of one or more vmdk files. The vmdk file extension is used for virtual disk files - virtual partition with data and installed operating system (Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X (macOS), MS-DOS etc.) created and used by VMware to run as a virtual machine (under host operating system).
