As I explained earlier, any file with the filename of *.vmdk is only a metadata descriptor file. This is why they're so small. You can open them in a text editor or just cat the contents from a shell session and view the layout. Files named *-flat.vmdk are the actual disk extents. Data stored in these files represent the actual data, the 0s and 1s that comprise files and filesystems. The *.vmdk files reference these *-flat.vmdk files and, in so doing the *.vmdk files act like symlinks, proxy files, or shortcuts (not really, but trying to illustrate the point).
↧