Qubes 4.3 - usb GUI shows attached - usb is not attached in dom0

[curious_cat_8P]

Hello,

Situation:

I have a nvme connected via thunderbolt to Qubes 4.3

it is listed on USB GUI

this is used for backups
thus, i tried to attach it on dom0:

sudo qvm-usb attach dom0 sys-usb:3-1-1

but, it does not show-up on dom0 - lsblk does not show this new disk

.
I check via command-line, and it is not attached:

sudo qvm-usb

However, on the GUI for USB devices
this USB nvme disk is shown as attached to dom0

How can I troubleshoot this error?
i rebooted
i tried using this USB disk through another AppVM but it fails midway while writing the backups.

Fixing this is really important - to resume backing-up my system.

Please let me know if further info is required.

Many thanks,

[curious_cat_8P]

so, trying to detach the USB from dom0 - in terminal - confirms that it is not attached:

$ sudo qvm-usb detach dom0 sys-usb:3-1-1

ERROR: "'usb device 3-1-1 not attached to dom0'"

it seems to be a quirky / bug with:

• GUI
• dom0 and / or sys-usb - as there is no way to attach to dom0

[rustybird]

It’s not possible to forward a device to dom0 as a USB device. Forwarding to dom0 as a block device using qvm-block (or the Block Storage section of the Devices widget) is possible, but it’s not recommended either.

@curious_cat_8P

i tried using this USB disk through another AppVM but it fails midway while writing the backups.

Are you using the regular Qubes OS backup system?

Maybe try forwarding the device to the other AppVM as a block device (which is generally preferable to forwarding as a USB device), or mounting it directly in sys-usb.

@curious_cat_8P

However, on the GUI for USB devices
this USB nvme disk is shown as attached to dom0

Sounds like a bug:

Issue tracking

[curious_cat_8P]

@rustybird

Maybe try forwarding the device to the other AppVM as a block device (which is generally preferable to forwarding as a USB device), or mounting it directly in sys-usb.

i did
in fact, i used to utilise - on qubes 4.2 - this guide:

[Guide] Incremental backup using the official backup system

Hi, I got really bored about backups, so I took a different approach. I like the official backup system because it works, it’s easy to use and can restore everything, however it sucks because it takes too much disk space. Instead of fighting it, I made a simple script to replace scrypt binary in dom0 that just neuters the encryption, this allows us to pipe the backup file to a tool handling deduplication and encryption. Here is the result of a qube backup done 3 times, with a qube restart bet…

but the appvm was having issues - whereby it would loose connectivity with usb half way the backups

As a matter of urgency - to have a reliable backup

Thanks for reminding me about using qvm-block (or the Block Storage section of the Devices widget)

I am doing a backup via a appvm, and it is painfully slow.
The usb device is assigned with this appvm

under Qubes Global Config > Device Assignments
it is not possible to redirect a block, only the entire device

Thanks for the info @rustybird