Maybe a drive /can/ destroy itself...

[dolphin]

I am new to MakeMKV and decided it's time to finish backing up my DVD library and a dozen or so BDs. I still have, and occasionally use, RipIt on an older Intel Mac. I don't have any UHD discs, so I went with a recent Pioneer BDR-XD08B aware of the firmware caveats and potentials.

Drive Information

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OS device name: /dev/rdisk5
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-XD08
Revision: 1.02
Serial number: ********
Firmware date: 2022-12-27
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 63

LibreDrive Information

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Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS9330
Firmware version: GENE

Based on MakeMKV drive speed control,

In no cases drive speed would go over the "media speed" maximum - you can't destroy your drive by setting speed value too high.

I used `sdftool` to set the speed to "PERFORMANCE" and was amazed to achieve 14-16x rips speeds on DVDs. It was an exciting change compared to the Apple SuperDrives I have.

Unfortunately, a few discs have slight eccentricities, and the drive would become like an unbalanced load of wash. Instead of a washing machine thumping around on the floor, the drive was vibrating like a buzz-saw on my desk. Sometimes I would put a stack of discs on it to dampen the vibrations. Suprisingly, high read rates were maintained. Somehow, the read head was able to counteract all the vibrations. Until...

While ripping the STOMP Live BD we bought at a performance several years back, the drive died.

Did it "destroy itself"?

I could still read DVDs, but nothing — rebooting, unplugging and plugging back in, or trying different computers — worked to restore the ability to read BDs. Apparently, the BD laser or a related component failed. The drive was only a week old.

The drive has been returned and exchanged for the same model. For now, I'm leaving it at the default (i.e., slow/quiet) setting:

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% ./sdftool -d <drive> speed get
DEBUG: code=00000000 src=|;#LqoJ6PV#w!yqdM,8vQ0]dc:29395149
DEBUG: code=00000000 src=|;#LqoJ6PV#w!yqdM,8vQ0]dc:29395149

Default speed mode: 2 ( QUIET )
Current speed mode: 254 ( INVALID )

What are everyone's thoughts? Should I re-enable performance mode? Perhaps in combination with configuring MakeMKV to throttle read speeds?