What did I get of a drive...

[Froebenius]

Hi,

first post..hopefully this part of the forum is at least half correct to post my question to.
I want to prevent to dig deeper and deeper into a topic only to recognize, that the hardware
I bought does not work with my setup. Therefore I want to check whether all is prepared correctly
before a newbie (me) tries to dig into this topic.

My setup:
Gentoo Linux
32GB RAM, dual channel
AMD Ryzen 3000 (Matisse B0) [Zen 2] (no overclocking at all...)
NVidia GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (8GB VRAM)

I downloaded makemkv for linux from the link into the forum.
Compilation and installation of both package: No errors.

I bought a VERBATIM 43888 from Amazon.

After starting makemkv it displays the following:

Drive Information
OS device name: /dev/sr0
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU40N
Revision: 1.05
Serial number: MODP7L91853
Firmware date: 2124-04-23 13:47
Bus encryption flags: 17

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1959

What I /think/ (read: not knowing...) this means is:
Currently the drive is not Libredrive conform.
It needs flashing another firmware to be Libredrive enabled.
Is this correct?

And:
What kind/quality of drive/platform I got here really?
Is it worth keeping?

Any info, criticism, hint, .... is very appreciated!

Froebenius

[dcoke22]

The drive is probably fine. Pioneer drives are considered the best, but they're hard to get since Pioneer is no longer in the optical drive business. If you do this long enough, you'll end up with multiple drives.

In the Linux forum, there's lots of discussion about people having trouble flashing drives on versions of MakeMKV newer that 1.17.7. Here's an example thread: MakeMKV above v1.17.7 still broken on Linux

On Linux, the BU40N works best on the 1.00 firmware. The Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide has instructions for how to flash and links to firmware. It says to flash the BU40N to 1.03MK firmware, which is the best advice for folks on Windows and Mac. It will probably work for Linux too, but again the Linux section of the forum has lots of people with a BU40N having trouble on 1.03MK and those troubles go away on 1.00. Here's an example: MakeMKV Works in Windows, Can't read AACS VID in Linux

[Froebenius]

Thanks for the info!

If downgrading the firmware: Is it known, what improvements of the firmware I will loose in comparison to version 1.05 of the firmware?

At what point of the chain this "key" comes into play, which I need to have, if I want to use (what) software?

[dcoke22]

Thanks for the info!

If downgrading the firmware: Is it known, what improvements of the firmware I will loose in comparison to version 1.05 of the firmware?

I can't answer that question. The firmware recommendations in the Guide are the ones that have empirically proven themselves to be the best for ripping.

At what point of the chain this "key" comes into play, which I need to have, if I want to use (what) software?

I presume you're talking about the beta key for MakeMKV? The beta key enables full functionality of MakeMKV, but it expires every few months. Eventually a new key is posted, but there usually a few days where MakeMKV doesn't work for those on the beta key. If you purchase a key for MakeMKV, it doesn't expire and all that inconvenience is avoided.

You should definitely try out the software using the beta key. If it proves useful then you should buy it.