diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-backend.c b/ggml/src/ggml-backend.c
index 954ab20725acc..e1651cc645c42 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-backend.c
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-backend.c
@@ -351,15 +351,10 @@ void ggml_backend_tensor_copy_async(ggml_backend_t backend_src, ggml_backend_t b
     }
 
     // an async copy would normally happen after all the queued operations on both backends are completed
-    // sync src, set_async dst
-    if (ggml_backend_buffer_is_host(src->buffer)) {
-        ggml_backend_synchronize(backend_src);
-        ggml_backend_tensor_set_async(backend_dst, dst, src->data, 0, ggml_nbytes(src));
-    } else {
-        ggml_backend_synchronize(backend_src);
-        ggml_backend_tensor_copy(src, dst);
-        ggml_backend_synchronize(backend_dst);
-    }
+    // to simulate the same behavior, we need to synchronize both backends first, and do a blocking copy
+    ggml_backend_synchronize(backend_src);
+    ggml_backend_synchronize(backend_dst);
+    ggml_backend_tensor_copy(src, dst);
 }
 
 // events
@@ -1782,7 +1777,17 @@ static enum ggml_status ggml_backend_sched_compute_splits(ggml_backend_sched_t s
                 } else {
                     ggml_backend_synchronize(split_backend);
                 }
-                ggml_backend_tensor_copy_async(input_backend, split_backend, input, input_cpy);
+                // try async copy, but if not possible, we can still use a sync copy without synchronizing the dst backend, since we handle the synchronization here with multiple copies and events
+                // TODO: add public function to facilitate this, since applications do not have direct access to the backend interface
+                if (!split_backend->iface.cpy_tensor_async || !split_backend->iface.cpy_tensor_async(input_backend, split_backend, input, input_cpy)) {
+                    ggml_backend_synchronize(input_backend);
+                    if (sched->events[split_backend_id][sched->cur_copy] != NULL) {
+                        ggml_backend_event_synchronize(sched->events[split_backend_id][sched->cur_copy]);
+                    } else {
+                        ggml_backend_synchronize(split_backend);
+                    }
+                    ggml_backend_tensor_copy(input, input_cpy);
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-cuda.cu b/ggml/src/ggml-cuda.cu
index a00a7af6ca8b1..682c30d45bcf4 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-cuda.cu
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-cuda.cu
@@ -2358,33 +2358,35 @@ GGML_CALL static void ggml_backend_cuda_get_tensor_async(ggml_backend_t backend,
 }
 
 GGML_CALL static bool ggml_backend_cuda_cpy_tensor_async(ggml_backend_t backend_src, ggml_backend_t backend_dst, const ggml_tensor * src, ggml_tensor * dst) {
-    GGML_ASSERT(ggml_backend_is_cuda(backend_src) || ggml_backend_is_cuda(backend_dst));
-
     ggml_backend_buffer_t buf_src = src->view_src ? src->view_src->buffer : src->buffer;
     ggml_backend_buffer_t buf_dst = dst->view_src ? dst->view_src->buffer : dst->buffer;
 
-    if (!ggml_backend_buffer_is_cuda(src->buffer)) {
+    if (!ggml_backend_is_cuda(backend_src) || !ggml_backend_is_cuda(backend_dst)) {
         return false;
     }
 
-    if (!ggml_backend_buffer_is_cuda(dst->buffer)) {
+    if (!ggml_backend_buffer_is_cuda(src->buffer) || !ggml_backend_buffer_is_cuda(dst->buffer)) {
         return false;
     }
 
-    // device -> device
+    // device -> device copy
     ggml_backend_cuda_context * cuda_ctx_src = (ggml_backend_cuda_context *)backend_src->context;
     ggml_backend_cuda_context * cuda_ctx_dst = (ggml_backend_cuda_context *)backend_dst->context;
 
-    if (backend_src != backend_dst) {
-        ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context * buf_ctx_src = (ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context *)buf_src->context;
-        ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context * buf_ctx_dst = (ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context *)buf_dst->context;
+    ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context * buf_ctx_src = (ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context *)buf_src->context;
+    ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context * buf_ctx_dst = (ggml_backend_cuda_buffer_context *)buf_dst->context;
 
-        GGML_ASSERT(cuda_ctx_src->device == buf_ctx_src->device);
-        GGML_ASSERT(cuda_ctx_dst->device == buf_ctx_dst->device);
+    if (cuda_ctx_src->device != buf_ctx_src->device || cuda_ctx_dst->device != buf_ctx_dst->device) {
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+        GGML_CUDA_LOG_WARN("%s: backend and buffer devices do not match\n", __func__);
+#endif
+        return false;
+    }
 
+    if (backend_src != backend_dst) {
         // copy on src stream
         if (cuda_ctx_src->device == cuda_ctx_dst->device) {
-            CUDA_CHECK(cudaMemcpyAsync(dst->data, src->data, ggml_nbytes(dst), cudaMemcpyDeviceToDevice, cuda_ctx_dst->stream()));
+            CUDA_CHECK(cudaMemcpyAsync(dst->data, src->data, ggml_nbytes(dst), cudaMemcpyDeviceToDevice, cuda_ctx_src->stream()));
         } else {
 #ifdef GGML_CUDA_NO_PEER_COPY
             return false;
@@ -2393,7 +2395,7 @@ GGML_CALL static bool ggml_backend_cuda_cpy_tensor_async(ggml_backend_t backend_
 #endif
         }
 
-        // record event on src stream
+        // record event on src stream after the copy
         if (!cuda_ctx_src->copy_event) {
             ggml_cuda_set_device(cuda_ctx_src->device);
             CUDA_CHECK(cudaEventCreateWithFlags(&cuda_ctx_src->copy_event, cudaEventDisableTiming));
@@ -2405,7 +2407,7 @@ GGML_CALL static bool ggml_backend_cuda_cpy_tensor_async(ggml_backend_t backend_
         CUDA_CHECK(cudaStreamWaitEvent(cuda_ctx_dst->stream(), cuda_ctx_src->copy_event, 0));
     } else {
         // src and dst are on the same backend
-        CUDA_CHECK(cudaMemcpyAsync(dst->data, src->data, ggml_nbytes(dst), cudaMemcpyDeviceToDevice, cuda_ctx_dst->stream()));
+        CUDA_CHECK(cudaMemcpyAsync(dst->data, src->data, ggml_nbytes(dst), cudaMemcpyDeviceToDevice, cuda_ctx_src->stream()));
     }
     return true;
 }