diff --git a/tasks/create_proxmox_debian_template.yml b/tasks/create_proxmox_debian_template.yml
index 9cd329e..1fc36ce 100644
--- a/tasks/create_proxmox_debian_template.yml
+++ b/tasks/create_proxmox_debian_template.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
   vars:
     lxc_name: "debian-builder"
     lxc_id: 9900
-    lxc_storage: "local-lvm"
+    # lxc_storage: "local-lvm"
+    lxc_storage: "hdd8t"
     lxc_template: "local:vztmpl/debian-13-standard_13.1-1_amd64.tar.zst"
     lxc_ostype: "debian"
     lxc_cores: 2
@@ -140,10 +141,26 @@
           virt-customize -a {{ workdir }}/{{ image_name }} \
           --run-command 'truncate -s 0 /etc/machine-id && rm -f /var/lib/dbus/machine-id'
 
-      - name: Compress and shrink image
+      - name: Convert image to compressed qcow2
         ansible.builtin.shell: |
           qemu-img convert -O qcow2 -c {{ workdir }}/{{ image_name }} {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}.qcow2
-          qemu-img resize {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}.qcow2 --shrink
+        args:
+          creates: "{{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}.qcow2"
+
+      - name: Shrink the compressed qcow2 using virt-sparsify
+        ansible.builtin.shell: |
+          virt-sparsify --compress {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}.qcow2 {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}_sparse.qcow2
+        args:
+          creates: "{{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}_sparse.qcow2"
+
+      - name: Replace original compressed image with sparsified version
+        ansible.builtin.shell: |
+          mv {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}_sparse.qcow2 {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}.qcow2
+          
+      # - name: Compress and shrink image
+      #   ansible.builtin.shell: |
+      #     qemu-img convert -O qcow2 -c {{ workdir }}/{{ image_name }} {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}.qcow2
+      #     qemu-img resize {{ workdir }}/{{ template_name }}.qcow2 --shrink
 
       - name: Copy finished template back to Proxmox host
         ansible.builtin.synchronize: