Reclaiming unused storage space within a virtualized infrastructure is a crucial optimization task. This process involves merging multiple smaller, fragmented files that represent virtual hard drives into fewer, larger files. For example, a virtual machine might initially use several small disk files that grow over time. Consolidating these files streamlines storage, potentially improving performance and simplifying management.
This optimization offers several advantages, including enhanced storage utilization, potentially leading to cost savings. A less fragmented virtual disk subsystem can also translate into improved virtual machine performance. Historically, the need for this procedure arose from the way virtual disks are provisioned and how data is written to them over time. As virtual machines are used, data is written and deleted, creating empty spaces within the virtual disk files. Consolidation eliminates these inefficiencies.