diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 07669ded44687cdaf63a118049834676bfee11de..5b803f106b66e3bba774b2254516eba3badfc7a6 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -2089,7 +2089,8 @@ qemuBuildDiskSourceCommandLine(virCommandPtr cmd,
     g_autofree char *copyOnReadPropsStr = NULL;
     size_t i;
 
-    if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV)) {
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV) &&
+        !qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus)) {
         if (virStorageSourceIsEmpty(disk->src))
             return 0;
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index bbc292d0a1a2e3bb208d69bedee726b36dd4ee63..b6806f017bfaf5361601a434afaea37a5e4065bd 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -8212,6 +8212,8 @@ qemuDomainDetermineDiskChain(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     virStorageSourcePtr src; /* iterator for the backing chain declared in XML */
     virStorageSourcePtr n; /* iterator for the backing chain detected from disk */
     qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = vm->privateData;
+    bool blockdev = virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV);
+    bool isSD = qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus);
     uid_t uid;
     gid_t gid;
 
@@ -8294,13 +8296,14 @@ qemuDomainDetermineDiskChain(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         if (n->format == VIR_STORAGE_FILE_ISO)
             n->format = VIR_STORAGE_FILE_RAW;
 
-        if (qemuDomainValidateStorageSource(n, priv->qemuCaps, false) < 0)
+        /* mask-out blockdev for 'sd' disks */
+        if (qemuDomainValidateStorageSource(n, priv->qemuCaps, isSD) < 0)
             return -1;
 
         qemuDomainPrepareStorageSourceConfig(n, cfg, priv->qemuCaps);
         qemuDomainPrepareDiskSourceData(disk, n);
 
-        if (virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV) &&
+        if (blockdev && !isSD &&
             qemuDomainPrepareStorageSourceBlockdev(disk, n, priv, cfg) < 0)
             return -1;
     }
@@ -8358,7 +8361,8 @@ qemuDomainDiskGetBackendAlias(virDomainDiskDefPtr disk,
 {
     *backendAlias = NULL;
 
-    if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV)) {
+    if (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV) ||
+        qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus)) {
         if (!(*backendAlias = qemuAliasDiskDriveFromDisk(disk)))
             return -1;
 
@@ -13234,7 +13238,8 @@ qemuDomainPrepareDiskSource(virDomainDiskDefPtr disk,
             disk->src->format = VIR_STORAGE_FILE_RAW;
     }
 
-    if (virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV)) {
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV) &&
+        !qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus)) {
         if (qemuDomainPrepareDiskSourceBlockdev(disk, priv, cfg) < 0)
             return -1;
     } else {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 1617f79d34a6b07233c98fdf0996f327a92c4204..63b4a49c3c6ea32030500b253fd04c994d577670 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -10808,7 +10808,8 @@ qemuDomainBlockResize(virDomainPtr dom,
         disk->src->format == VIR_STORAGE_FILE_QED)
         size = VIR_ROUND_UP(size, 512);
 
-    if (virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV)) {
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV) &&
+        !qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus)) {
         if (virStorageSourceIsEmpty(disk->src) || disk->src->readonly) {
             virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_UNSUPPORTED,
                            _("can't resize empty or readonly disk '%s'"),
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index f1b2fbb1a86199519a82acadf8c59ab89999ca81..ab5a7aef84dbcc9bde072273c5c5bb1686633fe5 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -4270,7 +4270,8 @@ qemuDomainRemoveDiskDevice(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
               disk->info.alias, vm, vm->def->name);
 
 
-    if (blockdev) {
+    if (blockdev &&
+        !qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus)) {
         corAlias = g_strdup(diskPriv->nodeCopyOnRead);
 
         if (diskPriv->blockjob) {
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index fe2ac2dcfe4d61aca6cf507c1d12ef2063a13ddf..b1751d4b52743481c08f29e93ab432d00cdd5b66 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -6405,7 +6405,7 @@ qemuProcessPrepareHostStorage(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
             continue;
 
         /* backing chain needs to be redetected if we aren't using blockdev */
-        if (!blockdev)
+        if (!blockdev || qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus))
             virStorageSourceBackingStoreClear(disk->src);
 
         /*
@@ -6634,6 +6634,10 @@ qemuProcessSetupDiskThrottlingBlockdev(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         virDomainDiskDefPtr disk = vm->def->disks[i];
         qemuDomainDiskPrivatePtr diskPriv = QEMU_DOMAIN_DISK_PRIVATE(disk);
 
+        /* sd-cards are instantiated via -drive */
+        if (qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus))
+            continue;
+
         if (!qemuDiskConfigBlkdeviotuneEnabled(disk))
             continue;
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
index f49181b639674d0c00535a7cfab9736f72ed0df0..2cde678ca0631f514b9915b83d87bc57828faff1 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_validate.c
@@ -2259,6 +2259,7 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDisk(const virDomainDiskDef *disk,
                                 virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
 {
     const char *driverName = virDomainDiskGetDriver(disk);
+    bool isSD = qemuDiskBusIsSD(disk->bus);
     virStorageSourcePtr n;
     int idx;
     int partition;
@@ -2298,7 +2299,8 @@ qemuValidateDomainDeviceDefDisk(const virDomainDiskDef *disk,
     }
 
     for (n = disk->src; virStorageSourceIsBacking(n); n = n->backingStore) {
-        if (qemuDomainValidateStorageSource(n, qemuCaps, false) < 0)
+        /* blockdev support is masked out for 'sd' disks */
+        if (qemuDomainValidateStorageSource(n, qemuCaps, isSD) < 0)
             return -1;
     }