# Data Object - VirtualDisk(vim.vm.device.VirtualDisk)

Parameter to
  PromoteDisks_Task
Extends
  VirtualDevice
See also
  ID, SharesInfo, StorageIOAllocationInfo, VirtualDiskVFlashCacheConfigInfo
Since
  2.0

## Data Object Description

This data object type contains information about a disk in a virtual machine.

The virtual disk backing object types describe the different virtual disk backings available. The disk format version in each case describes the version of the format that is used.

Supported virtual disk backings:

Sparse disk format, version 1 and 2
  The virtual disk backing grows when needed. Supported only for VMware Server.
Flat disk format, version 1 and 2
  The virtual disk backing is preallocated. Version 1 is supported only for VMware Server.
Space efficient sparse disk format
  The virtual disk backing grows on demand and incorporates additional space optimizations.
Raw disk format, version 2
  The virtual disk backing uses a full physical disk drive to back the virtual disk. Supported only for VMware Server.
Partitioned raw disk format, version 2
  The virtual disk backing uses one or more partitions on a physical disk drive to back a virtual disk. Supported only for VMware Server.
Raw disk mapping, version 1
  The virtual disk backing uses a raw device mapping to back the virtual disk. Supported for ESX Server 2.5 and 3.x.

Properties

Name | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
capacityInBytes* | xsd:long | Capacity of this virtual disk in bytes. Server will always populate this property. Clients must initialize it when creating a new non -RDM disk or in case they want to change the current capacity of an existing virtual disk, but can omit it otherwise. If the disk is on a Virtual Volume datastore the disk size must be a multiple of a megabyte. Since vSphere API 5.5
capacityInKB | xsd:long | Deprecated. As of vSphere API 5.5, use capacityInBytes. Capacity of this virtual disk in kilobytes. Information might be lost when actual disk size is rounded off to kilobytes. If the disk is on a Virtual Volume datastore the disk size must be a multiple of a megabyte.
diskObjectId* | xsd:string | Deprecated. As of vSphere API 6.5, use vDiskId. Virtual disk durable and unmutable identifier. Virtual disk has a UUID field but that can be set through VirtualDiskManager APIs. This identifier is a universally unique identifier which is not settable. VirtualDisk can remain in existence even if it is not associated with VM. Since vSphere API 5.5
iofilter* | xsd:string[] | IDs of the IO Filters associated with the virtual disk. See id. This information is provided when retrieving configuration information for an existing virtual machine. The client cannot modify this information on a virtual machine. Since vSphere API 6.0
nativeUnmanagedLinkedClone* | xsd:boolean | Indicates whether a disk with VirtualDiskFlatVer2BackingInfo backing is a linked clone from an unmanaged delta disk and hence the parent chain to this delta disk will not be available. Since vSphere API 6.7
shares* | SharesInfo | Deprecated. As of vSphere API 4.1, use shares. Disk shares, used for resource scheduling.
storageIOAllocation* | StorageIOAllocationInfo | Deprecated. As of vSphere API 6.5, use Resource allocation for storage I/O. Since vSphere API 4.1
vDiskId* | ID | ID of the virtual disk object as the first class entity. See ID The ID is a universally unique identifier for the disk lifecycle, even if the virtual disk is not associated with VM. Since vSphere API 6.5
vFlashCacheConfigInfo* | VirtualDiskVFlashCacheConfigInfo | Deprecated. since vSphere 7.0 because vFlash Read Cache end of availability. vFlash cache configuration supported on this virtual disk. Since vSphere API 5.5
Properties inherited from VirtualDevice
backing, connectable, controllerKey, deviceInfo, key, slotInfo, unitNumber
Properties inherited from DynamicData
None

*Need not be set
Show WSDL type definition
<complexType xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:vsan="urn:vsan" name="VirtualDisk"> <complexContent> <extension base="vsan:VirtualDevice"> <sequence> <element name="capacityInKB" type="xsd:long"/> <element name="capacityInBytes" type="xsd:long" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="shares" type="vsan:SharesInfo" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="storageIOAllocation" type="vsan:StorageIOAllocationInfo" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="diskObjectId" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="vFlashCacheConfigInfo" type="vsan:VirtualDiskVFlashCacheConfigInfo" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="iofilter" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/> <element name="vDiskId" type="vsan:ID" minOccurs="0"/> <element name="nativeUnmanagedLinkedClone" type="xsd:boolean" minOccurs="0"/> </sequence> </extension> </complexContent> </complexType>