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Why share FW dump?
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2025 12:11 pm
by iskander
Hello,
At some point of a successful ripping (my first time) I saw the following lines in the log output:
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Saved FW dump file as filename.tgz
Please send the file "filename.tgz" to support@makemkv.com
Why would I want to send this file to the address specified? Does 'FW' stands for firmware? This is an archive of binary files. What data do they contain?
My drive is nothing special, ASUS BW-16D1HT, the firmware is stock version 3.11.
Tried to search similar topics here but to no avail.
Re: Why share FW dump?
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 11:00 pm
by Woodstock
A .tgz file can be opened/read with the general TGZ file extractor, as well as several Windows, Mac, and Linux archive programs.
In general, if MakeMKV creates a TGZ file, it contains information needed to create a key for the particular disk you're trying to read, and it will be created with the name of that disk for a file name, plus a 4-character code that identifies which version of the disk you have.
Re: Why share FW dump?
Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 10:37 pm
by iskander
Thanks for the reply!
Yeah, I know that this is an archive. Already looked into it:
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$ tar xvzf dump_FW_C9883581C7DAD4757607.tgz
pax_global_header
dump_info_ASUS_BW-16D1HT_3.11_[firmware_date]_[serial_number].tar
$ cat pax_global_header
14 comment=10
$ tar tvf dump_info_ASUS_BW-16D1HT_[firmware_date]_[serial_number].tar
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 32 1970-01-01 01:00 rom_003000.bin
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 256 1970-01-01 01:00 rom_1EC000.bin
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 96 1970-01-01 01:00 inq.bin
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 28 1970-01-01 01:00 fd_fwdate.bin
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 28 1970-01-01 01:00 fd_sn.bin
As for me, it doesn't seem to be connected with a disc in any way. It's more like data about my drive. Again, it's just some binary files and a line of text. In my previous post I hid the filename. I'm showing it now, since I haven't seen anything sensitive in it. Plus, to show that the filename is definitely not the disc name and a 4-character code, as you assumed.
Re: Why share FW dump?
Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2025 12:47 am
by BuffaloSlack
I don't have any insight but I can only assume that each drive has a key to decrypt disks and maybe these keys are useful for makemkv but that's just me guessing.