How to create a new virtual disk in vSphere client version 5.1

Use these steps to Create a New Virtual Disk.

  1. Connect to your ESXi host or vCenter server using the vSphere Client.
  2. Right-click the target virtual machine in the inventory pane.
  3. Select Edit Settings.
  4. In the "Virtual Machine Properties" window, navigate to the Hardware tab.
  5. Click the Add button (or Add New Device in some client variations).
  6. In the "Add Hardware" wizard, select Hard Disk as the device type and click Next.
  7. Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next.
  8. Specify the disk size (in MB or GB). It is easier to increase the size later than to shrink it, so start small.
  9. Select the provisioning policy (e.g., Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed, Thick Provision Eager Zeroed, or Thin Provision) and the datastore location where the disk file will be stored.
  10. Adjust the default values if you need to, then click Next to proceed to the "Advanced options".
  11. Review the summary of settings and click Finish to create the virtual disk.

The new hard disk will appear in the virtual machine's hardware list.
After clicking OK to close the "Virtual Machine Properties" window, power on the VM.
You will then need to use the guest operating system's disk management tools to initialize and format the new drive for use.