How to Move Proxmox VM and LXC Disks to a new Drive
I recently decided to install a new 1TB SSD in my Proxmox server. I had 2 x 256GB SSD in there but it was gettnig too small, plus I needed the 2 small SSDs for another project and had a 1TB laying around. So I had to move my Proxmox over to a new drive.
My setup looked like this:
- SSD 1: Had my Proxmox install and I stored my backups on here
- SSD 2: Had all my VM and LXC disk images (lvm-thin)
My aim is to replace my first SSD, the one with my Proxmox install on it, and then copy all the VM and LXC images from my old drive over to my new drive. I will also use my new drive for backups, until I can get another drive.
Steps to move to a new Drive
Step 1: Backup your existing VM and LXC configs
You need to backup the files in the following locations. You can just copy them to another PC using WinSCP or the like:
- VMs: /etc/pve/qemu-server/
- LXC Containers: /etc/pve/lxc/
The above image shows what the contents of qemu-server (and lxc) looks like. These config file contain all the details about your VMs and LXC containers, such as MAC address, storage, VM name, config, etc, so it is SUPER important to back this up.
Other important config files (which I did not bother with as my setup is very simple) can be found here. Perhaps back them up just in case:
- Storage definitions: /etc/pve/storage.cfg
- Cluster config (if you’re using clustering): /etc/pve/corosync.conf
- User permissions/roles: /etc/pve/user.cfg and /etc/pve/acl.cfg
- Network settings: /etc/network/interfaces (if you want to replicate your static IPs, VLANs, bridges, etc.)
Step 2: Install Proxmox on your new drive
Before installing Proxmox on your new drive, maybe remove your existing drive, just to make sure you don’t accidetnally select the wrong disk during install.
Install Proxmox on your new drive as per normal. Just a few quick notes:
Where it asks for IP and FQDN, you can use the following:
- IP address and CIDR: I want my Proxmox host to using IP address 192.168.1.200, and my home network uses a normal /24 (255.255.255.0) IP range, so I entered 192.168.1.200/24 in that textbox.
- FQDN: Not really needed in my case, so I just entered “host1.proxmox.local” (.local is safe to use, do not use a public domain name like “proxmox.com”)
Take Note: the “host1” portion in your FQDN will also be the name of you node, and everything in the GUI will show up as “host1”
Step 3: Add back your old drive with your VM and LXC images
By default Proxmox will split your new drive in 2.
- The first part will be lvm-thin where your images will reside
- The second part will be where your VM ISO files and backups will reside
Now lets add the old drive back.
Because my VM and LXC images were on a different drive, I needed to add that drive back into Proxmox. For that, go to Datacenter, then Storage, then Add, and then select “lvm-thin” because that is an lvm-thin drive. Make sure you use the same drive name (ID) as before. Before it was called “dataNVME” so now I will call it exactly the same name again.
This drive will now show up in the left side as “dataNVME” as in the image above, but all your VM and LXC images will just be grouped under “VM Disks”. Don’t worry, we will sort that out now.
Step 4: Add back the config files
Now copy back your VM and LXC files to the same locations as in step 1. I just used WinSCP.
Like magic, your VMs and LXC containers will appear in Proxmox, and, Proxmox will now correctly show the VM disks under VM images, and the LXC images under LXC on your old drive.
Step 5: Move VM and LXC images to your new drive
In order to move your VM or LXC disk, click on your VM or LXC, then on Hardware, then select your Hard Disk, then click on “Disk Actions”. Here you can just select Move to move it to another drive.
If you are using SSDs, it will be rather quick, but Proxmox will show the progress. Make sure to move your Hard Disk and EFI disk.
Do not select the box “Delete from source” yet, we will do that manually once we are certain that everything works as it should. You will just see an “Unused disk” which you can remove once you’ve booted up the VM and can confirm that everything works as it should.
It is not too difficult to move Proxmox over to a new drive, but you have to make sure to backup the config files, which I never knew about. From now on, I will keep these config files backed up.
