The "cp" command may work, but is not what you want to use for large files on VMFS datastores.
Ok, so should I use another command instead?
"vmkfstools" is build to copy virtual disk files (including metadata, and user data) in an optimized way. The target file will be created up front with it's provisioned size, and then the contents will be copied over block by block to avoid the need to resize the file (as cp does it), i.e. modify VMFS metadata. So even if the file sizes matche, the content may not be consistent if vmkfstools was killed.
Understood, but what should I do if its stucked on cloning 100% done for an hour? I can do the vmkfstools copy round no. 2.
Do you recommend this step by step guide Revisions to Move VMware ESXi VM to new datastore - preserve thin-provisioning - Server Fault or I should rather follow something else?
Thank you a lot for your ongoing support. Its greately appreciated.