Steps on Proxmox Add Physical Disk to VM [Detailed]

Proxmox is a powerful open-source virtualization platform that supports KVM and LXC virtualization technologies. It can passthrough physical disk to virtual machine to facilitate you with virtual machines to directly access the dedicated storage device, providing higher performance for applications such as NAS solutions or databases. In this post you will be provided with detailed steps to implement Proxmox add physical disk to VM.

How to Passthrough Hard Drives in Proxmox

Before you begin, make sure that the physical disks are available and in use by the Proxmox system, and that you have SSH access or physical access to the Proxmox host. Then you can proceed with the steps provided below.

Step 1. Identify the Physical Disk

You can use the following command in the Proxmox host terminal to list all available disks and then determine the physical disk to be passed to the virtual machine.

Step 2. Unmount the Disk from the Host System

If the disk is mounted, unmount it to prevent conflicts. Use the following command to unmount the disk:

Please remember to replace /dev/sdb with the actual disk identifier.

Step 3. Add the Physical Disk to the VM Configuration

You can use two methods to add a physical disk.

👉Method 1. Using the Proxmox graphical user interface (as raw disk passthrough)

• Open the Proxmox web interface, and select the virtual machine to which you want to add a physical disk.
• Navigate to Hardware > Add > Hard Disks.

• In the Bus/Device section, select VirtIO Block or SCSI.
• In the Storage section, select Directory and enter the physical disk path (/dev/sdb).
• Click Add to attach the disk to the virtual machine.

👉Method 2. Using the Command Line (Passthrough as a Raw Block Device)

• Edit the VM configuration file located at /etc/pve/qemu-server/.conf. Remember to replace with your VM’s ID.
• Add a line to attach the physical disk:

• For SCSI passthrough, use:

• Then save the configuration file.

Step 4. Start the VM and Verify

Start the virtual machine through the Proxmox web interface or by running the following command:

Log in to the virtual machine and check if the physical disk is recognized. You can use the following command in the virtual machine:

The physical disk should appear as a new block device (e.g. /dev/vdb or /dev/sdc).

Using Powerful Backup Tool to Secure Data Safety

Proxmox does not require a backup when adding physical disks to a virtual machine, but it is necessary to back up important data before making changes to a virtual machine's configuration so that it can be quickly recovered in the event of an error.

AOMEI Cyber Backup is an enterprise-grade data backup and disaster recovery software that helps back up VMware VMs, Hyper-V VMs, and physical machines, among others, and is designed to help organizations keep critical data safe. It ensures data security, instant recovery, and minimal downtime for your organization with a range of backup policies, system protection features, and an intuitive management interface, among other features.

You can click the button below to enjoy AOMEI Cyber Backup.

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*Simple steps to back up VMware ESXi VMs

Step 1. Log in to the AOMEI Cyber Backup, go to Source Device > VMware > + Add VMware Device to Add vCenter or Standalone ESXi. Then enter Device Information and User Information and click Confirm.

Step 2. Navigate to Backup Task > + Create New Task, and select VMware ESXi Backup as the Backup Type. Then set the Task Name, Device, Target, Archive, and Schedule as needed.

• Task Name: you can change the task name or use the default name with an ordinal.
• Device: batch backup multiple VMs on vCenter or standalone host within one backup task.
• Target: you can select to back up to a local path, or to a network path like NAS.
• Archive: you can select cloud storage like S3 buckets, easily archiving VMware backup to Amazon S3.

• Schedule: you can choose to perform full, differential, or incremental backup, and automate execution according to the frequency you specified.

Step 3. Click Start Backup and select Add the schedule and start backup now, or Add the schedule only.

📌While the free version of AOMEI Cyber Backup can meet most of your needs, you can upgrade to enjoy more features:
Backup Cleanup: It can automatically delete the old backup copies that exceed the retention period you specified.
Restore to new location: It will create identical new system data from the backup to the same or another server/host.

Conclusion

The process of Proxmox add physical disk to VM can significantly improve the performance of heavy storage applications. Following the steps provided in this article ensures that the disk is properly separated from the host and takes full advantage of Proxmox's storage passthrough capabilities.