www.makemkv.com

Hi everyone!

I’m still pretty new to the MakeMKV community, and honestly, I’m also very new to this whole Blu-ray/4K ripping thing in general, so I’m still learning how all of this works. I’ve been having a lot of fun getting my setup together, but I’ve run into an issue with my drive and was hoping some of you more experienced folks might be able to point me in the right direction.

I’m trying to get LibreDrive working on my HP/HLDS BU40N so I can reliably read my Blu-ray and UHD discs with MakeMKV.

Here is my setup:

Optical drive

HP/HLDS BU40N
Current firmware: BW42 / 0.BW42P
Platform shown by MakeMKV: MT1959
SATA Slim optical drive

PC

ASUS TUF Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 motherboard
Windows 10
Internal SATA connection to the motherboard

Cable

StarTech SLSATAF12, 12-inch Slimline SATA to SATA + LP4 cable
The BU40N is connected directly to the motherboard's SATA port rather than through USB.
The power side is connected to the PC's existing power wiring.

Software

MakeMKV BETA
SDFtool Flasher

MakeMKV detects the drive correctly. When I look at the LibreDrive information, it reports that the hardware supports LibreDrive, but the firmware is not currently supported and shows:

“Possible (with patched firmware)”

I've tried flashing the drive a few times, but it doesn't seem like the flash is actually working. After the flash attempt, MakeMKV still reports:

BU40N — BW42 / 0.BW42P

So it appears that the firmware isn't actually changing.

Before trying anything else, I used SDFtool Flasher's READ FIRM function and successfully created a dump of the original BW42 firmware. I also made a separate copy of that original firmware backup on my SSD, so I have the original firmware safely backed up.

I have also successfully connected the BU40N directly through SATA. MakeMKV recognizes the drive and can read regular Blu-ray discs. When I tried a 4K UHD disc, MakeMKV recognized the disc but couldn't decrypt it because LibreDrive isn't enabled.

I’m really just trying to learn how all of this works and get my setup working properly. Since this is my only optical drive, I'm trying to be careful and don't want to accidentally turn it into an expensive paperweight. 😂

What I'm hoping someone can help me figure out is:

Is this BU40N / BW42 / MT1959 combination compatible with LibreDrive?
What firmware is appropriate for this exact drive?
Why might SDFtool Flasher appear to run but leave the drive at BW42 / 0.BW42P?
Could the SATA Slim connection or StarTech SLSATAF12 cable have anything to do with the flash not working?
Is there anything special I need to know about an HP OEM BU40N?
Is there any other information, screenshots, or logs I should provide that would help diagnose the problem?

Again, I'm new to the MakeMKV community and new to this whole ripping process, so I really appreciate everyone's patience. I'm happy to learn and follow the proper procedure — I just want to make sure I'm doing it correctly and safely.

Thanks so much for any help or advice!