The new version of Vsphere supports a maximum single vmdk exceeding 2T, theoretically supporting a maximum of 62T

The new version of Vsphere supports a maximum single vmdk exceeding 2T, theoretically supporting a maximum of 62T

In VSphere 5.5, large capacity virtual disks has these conditions and limitations:
An ESXi 5.5 or later host is required.
The maximum supported VMDK size on a VMFS-5 datastore is increased to + TB. However, the maximum supported VMDK size on VMFS-3 is still 2 TB.
The maximum supported size of a VMDK on NFS is the lesser of the "a" and 1% less than the maximum file size supported by the NFS filesystem.

Notes:
The largest file size depends on the underlying file system (for example, TB on ext3).
A maximum of is enforced, even if the underlying NFS filesystem supports a greater size.

The maximum supported size of a virtual mode Raw Device Mapping (VRDM) has also been increased from2 TB to + TB.
A VMDK larger than 2 TB can be created on a virtual MachineThat was powered on or off, but extending a VMDK beyond 2 TB was only supported when the virtual machine was powered off.
You must with the VSphere Web Client to create or extend a VMDK beyond 2 TB. For more information, see the troubleshooting sections of this article.
English:

In VSphere 5.5,Large CapacityVirtualDiskHave the following conditions and limitations:
Hosts that require ESXi 5.5 or later.
The maximum VMDK size supported in the VMFS-5 data store is increased to. However, the maximum VMDK size supported in VMFS-3 is still 2 TB.
The maximum VMDK size supported in NFS is less than 1% TB and is larger than the largest file supported by the NFS file system.

Attention:
The maximum file size depends on the base file system (for example, on ext3).
The maximum size is forced to be as high as TB, even though the underlying NFS file system supports larger dimensions.

The maximum size supported for virtual mode bare device mapping (VRDM) has been increased from 2 TB to + TB.
You can turn the power on or offVirtual Machines, a vmdk larger than 2 TB is created, but only extended (not created) vmdk with more than 2 TB is supported when power is turned off for the virtual machine.
You must use VSphere Web Client to create or extend more than 2 terabytes of VMDK. For more information, see the "Troubleshooting" section of this article.


Virtual Machines with large capacity disks has these conditions and limitations:
The guest operating system must support large capacity virtual hard disks.
You can only move or clone disks that is greater than 2 TB to ESXi 5.5 the hosts, or to clusters that has such hosts Availab Le.
The datastore format must is VMFS-5 or later, or an NFS volume on a Network attached Storage (NAS) server.
VSphere Flash Read Cache Supports a maximum hard disk size of TB.
VMFS-3 volumes is not supported. You cannot move disks greater than 2 TB fromA VMFS-5 datastore to a VMFS-3 datastore.
Cannot hot-extend a virtual disk if the capacity after extending the disk was equal to or greater than 2 TB. Only off LineExtension of gpt-partitioned disks beyond 2 TB is possible.
Fault tolerance is not supported.
Virtual SAN is not supported.
BusLogic Parallel controllers is not SupportEd.
Virtual Machines with large capacity Vsan disks or disks greater than 2 TB must meet resource and configuration requirements for Optimal virtual machine performance. The maximum value for large capacity hard disks is a. When you add or configure virtual disks, always leave a small amount of overhead. Some virtual machine Tasks can quickly consume large amounts of disk space, which can prevent successful completion of the Task if the maximum disk space is assigned to the disk. Such events might include taking snapshots or using linked clones. These operations cannot finish when the maximum amount of disk space is allocated.
In environments without GKFX storage, operations such as snapshot Quiesce, cloning, storage vMotion, or vMotion can take Significantly longer to finish.
You cannot relocate RDMs larger than 2 TB to datastores other than VMFS-5 or, to hosts older than ESXi 5.5.
To enable the Microsoft Windows operating system to address a maximum storage capacity for a device greater than 2 TB, the Disk must is initialized by using the GUID partition Table (GPT) partitioning scheme. For more information, see Windows SupportFor hard disks, that is larger than 2 TB.
English:

With high-capacity disksVirtual MachinesThere are the following conditions and limitations:
The guest operating system must supportLarge CapacityVirtualHDD。
You can only move or clone a disk that is larger than 2 TB to an ESXi 5.5 host, or a cluster that has such available hosts.
The data storage format must be VMFS-5 or later, or an NFS volume on a network attached storage (NAS) server.
VSphere Flash Read Cache supports a maximum hard disk size of up to TB.
VMFS-3 volumes are not supported. Disks larger than 2 terabytes cannot be moved from the VMFS-5 datastore to the VMFS-3 data store.
If the extensionDiskAfter the capacity is equal to or greater than 2 TB, the virtual disk cannot be thermally extended. Only offline extensions for GPT partitioned disks over 2 TB are supported.
Fault tolerance is not supported.
Virtual SAN is not supported.
BusLogic parallel controllers are not supported.
HasLarge CapacityVirtualHDDor larger than 2 TB of diskVirtual MachinesMust meet the resource and configuration requirements for optimal virtual machine performance. The maximum value for a high-capacity hard drive is. When you add or configure a virtual disk, you always keep a small amount of overhead. Some virtual machine tasks consume a lot of disk space quickly, so if you assign the disk the maximum disk space, it can prevent the task from completing successfully. Such events might include generating a snapshot or using a linked clone. If the maximum disk space is allocated, these operations will not complete.
In environments without shared storage, some operations, such as snapshot silence, cloning, Storage vMotion, or vMotion, may take a long time to complete.
RDM greater than 2 TB cannot be relocated to a datastore other than VMFS-5, or to a host that is below the ESXi 5.5 version.
To support the Microsoft Windows operating system to resolve devices that have a maximum storage capacity of more than 2 TB, you must initialize it with a GUID partition table (GPT) partitioning schemeDisk。 For more information, see Windows SupportFor hard disks, that is larger than 2 TB.



Note:the preceeding link was correct as of June 13, 2014. If you find the link was broken, please provide feedback and a VMware employee would update the link.
Changes in virtual MachineSnapshots for Vmdks larger than 2 TB:
Snapshots taken on Vmdks larger than 2 TB is now in Space efficient Virtual Disk (sesparse) format. No user interaction is required. The redo logs'll be automatically created as Sesparse instead of Vmfssparse (delta) while the base flat VMDK is larger th An 2 TB.
Extending aBaseFlat disk on Vmfssparse or sesparse are not supported.
The Vmfssparse format does not has the ability to Support2 TB or more.
Vmfssparse and Sesparse formats cannot co-exist in the same VMDK. In a virtual Machine, both types of snapshot can co-exist, but not in the same disk chain. For example, when a snapshot was taken for a virtual machine with a virtual disks attached, one smaller than 2 TB and one Larger than 2 TB, the smaller disk snapshot would be vmfssparse the larger disk snapshot would be sesparse.
Linked clones'll be sesparse if the parent disk is larger than 2 TB.

Changes in virtual machine snapshots that are larger than 2 TB of VMDK:
Snapshots generated on a VMDK larger than 2 TB are currently in a space-saving virtual disk (sesparse) format. No user interaction is required. If the base planar VMDK is greater than 2 TB, the redo log is automatically created in the Sesparse format instead of Vmfssparse (incremental).
Extending basic flat disks in Vmfssparse or sesparse format is not supported.
The Vmfssparse format does not support 2 TB or more space.
The Vmfssparse and sesparse formats cannot coexist in the same VMDK. InVirtual Machines, the two types of snapshots can coexist, but cannot be in the same disk chain. For example, if you take a snapshot of a virtual machine that is connected to two virtual disks, one disk is less than 2 TB and the other disk is larger than 2 TB, the smaller disk snapshot will be vmfssparse, and the larger disk snapshot will be sesparse.
If the parentDiskis greater than 2 TB, the linked clone will be sesparse.


Troubleshooting
When you attempt to extend a VMDK beyond 2 TB in a powered on virtual Machine, you see this error in the client:

Hot-extend is invoked with size (* * * sectors) > =2TB. Hot-extend beyond or equal to 2TB are not SupportEd. This disk extend Operation Failed:msg.disklib.INVAL

To resolve this issue:

Power off the virtual machine and retry the extend operation.
Detach the VMDK fromThe original virtual Machineand attach to a powered off virtual machine and then increase the size to the desired size. Detach the VMDK from the temporary powered off VMs and attach back to the original Virtual machine

When you attempt to create a large virtual disk on a VMFS-3 datastore or on NFS using ext3, you see this error in the VSPH Ere Client or when using Vmkfstools:

Failed to create virtual disk:the destination file system does not SupportLarge files (12).

When you attempt to create a large VMDK using the VSphere Client, you see the error:

The disk capacity entered is not a properly formed number or is out of range. It has been replaced with the nearest acceptable value
Diskcapcontrol:value 6924239004288 is out of range (1048576,4398046511104)

Checking the size of the newly created or expanded VMDK, you find that it is 4 TB.

So here's the problem.

If you attempt to extend more than 2 TB of VMDK on a powered-on virtual machine, you will see the following error on the client:

A hot expansion with a size greater than or equal to 2TB (* * * sectors) has been called. Thermal expansion greater than or equal to 2TB is not supported. ThisDiskExtension operation failed: Msg.disklib.INVAL (Hot-extend was invoked with size (* * * sectors) > =2TB. Hot-extend beyond or equal to 2TB are not supported. This disk extend Operation Failed:msg.disklib.INVAL)

To resolve this issue, do the following:
Power off the virtual machine and retry the scaling operation.
The VMDK and the originalVirtual MachinesDetach and connect to any other powered-off virtual machines, and then increase the size to the desired size. Detach the VMDK from the temporarily powered off virtual machine and reconnect to the original virtual machine

When you try to create a large virtual disk on the VMFS-3 datastore or NFS using ext3, you see the following error in the VSphere Client or when you use Vmkfstools:

Unable to create virtual disk: The target file system does not support large files (Failed to create virtual disk:the destination file system does not SupportLarge files (12).).

When you try to create a large VMDK using VSphere Client, you see the following error:

of the inputDiskThe capacity numeric format is incorrect or out of range. The value has been replaced with the nearest acceptable value
Diskcapcontrol: Value 6924239004288 is out of range (1048576 to 4398046511104) (the disk capacity entered is not a properly formed number Or is out of range. It has been replaced with the nearest acceptable value Diskcapcontrol:value 6924239004288 are out of range (1048576,43980 46511104))

Check the size of the newly created or extended VMDK, and you'll find that size is 4 TB.

The new version of Vsphere supports a maximum single vmdk exceeding 2T, theoretically supporting a maximum of 62T