Mike,
I went through the entire process with lvserv1. When I got to step 6. "Browse the Datastore and register the .vmx", I was a little unsure of what you meant by "register". I ended up choosing the option add it to inventory. After I did, it ended up creating a new VM in my list (lvserv1.xxx.local-Rescue)...see image below.
At this point, I was a little uncertain of what to do next. I had assumed that your steps 7, 8, and 9 were relative to the original vm (lvserv1.xxx.local), in that I would be removing the existing disks from that VM, then readding the new ones to that VM. But, after seeing the lvserv1.xxx.local-Rescue VM listed in inventory, I figured that this was the one that I should be attaching the new disks to. So....
I removed the existing disks from the -Rescue VM, then added the newly consolidated disks to the -Rescu VM, then powered on the -Rescue VM.
So now, I have the -Rescue VM up and running, pointed to the consolidated disks, and the old VM (and old messed up disks) are down.
Was this the right sequence of events, or should I have ended up with lvserv1.xxx.local pointing to the -Rescue disks?
Can't I know just delete the old lvserv1.xxx.local vm (and all of its drives), then rename the lvserv1.xxx.local-Rescue vm to the old name? This still leaves me with the desire to rename the datastore directory and datastore names just to be consistent, which may have to do with svmotion recommendation?
Jeff