Thoughts on LG BU40N

[blackjack4494]

Hey there,
I have thought a long time of getting into Bluray ripping. So finally the day came that I decided to do so.
Last time I checked only uhd friendly drives were the way to go. Nowadays it seems possible to use even (some) official ones.
As my computer does not have any front openings (corsair 270r) - because who needs those these days? I will get an external drive.

But the 'ready to use' slim ones like archgon are quite expensive compared to other alternatives. Also I don't want to get those big 5.25 drives.
Fortunately there is the lg bu40n. Only downside I can think of is the lower read/write speed (let me know if there is some kind of benchmark/collection of times needed with different drives)

I found these cheap enclosures
https://www.amazon.de/Salcar-Laufwerksg ... r=8-5&th=1
https://www.amazon.de/techPulse120-Lauf ... 186&sr=8-2

techpulse120 also sells 'ready to use' ones with bu40n inside.

This verbatim is on sale right now and got some pioneer model inside
https://www.amazon.de/Verbatim-Externer ... 868&sr=8-3


Let me hear your thoughts. Should I get myself one of the enclosures + the bu40n and flash it?

Edit:
Also heard about Buffalo BRXL-PT6U2VB
It seems to have higher read speeds but is only available with usb 2.0

[MartyMcNuts]

Hey there,
I have thought a long time of getting into Bluray ripping. So finally the day came that I decided to do so.
Last time I checked only uhd friendly drives were the way to go. Nowadays it seems possible to use even (some) official ones.
As my computer does not have any front openings (corsair 270r) - because who needs those these days? I will get an external drive.

But the 'ready to use' slim ones like archgon are quite expensive compared to other alternatives. Also I don't want to get those big 5.25 drives.
Fortunately there is the lg bu40n. Only downside I can think of is the lower read/write speed (let me know if there is some kind of benchmark/collection of times needed with different drives)

I found these cheap enclosures
https://www.amazon.de/Salcar-Laufwerksg ... r=8-5&th=1
https://www.amazon.de/techPulse120-Lauf ... 186&sr=8-2

techpulse120 also sells 'ready to use' ones with bu40n inside.

This verbatim is on sale right now and got some pioneer model inside
https://www.amazon.de/Verbatim-Externer ... 868&sr=8-3


Let me hear your thoughts. Should I get myself one of the enclosures + the bu40n and flash it?

Edit:
Also heard about Buffalo BRXL-PT6U2VB
It seems to have higher read speeds but is only available with usb 2.0

The Verbatim external drive is no good as the Pioneer drives are not UHD friendly. The most popular slim externals are:

• LG BU40N with Vantec NST-510S3-BK enclosure

• Buffalo BRUHD-PU3-BK

• Archgon MD-8107S-U3-UHD

The good thing about these is that they all contain a BU40N drive. This is a good drive and is not really much (if any) slower than other drives.

PS: Please don't buy a cheap sh*t enclosure for the BU40N. You spend a lot on the drive, get the Vantec enclosure for it. It is solid and highly recommended.

[omk1980]

I was thinking of getting the bu40n but my laptop optical Bay is 12.7mm so it won't fit. I was looking at the enclosure linked and it looks good, but it doesn't look like it's externally powered. Don't a lot of these drives give errors on uhd discs due to power requirement issues?

[blackjack4494]

I was thinking of getting the bu40n but my laptop optical Bay is 12.7mm so it won't fit. I was looking at the enclosure linked and it looks good, but it doesn't look like it's externally powered. Don't a lot of these drives give errors on uhd discs due to power requirement issues?

Well I still went with the inexpensive enclosure. Drive and enclosure will arrive next week. I didn't want the vantec as it's too bulky.

Both of the enclosures I linked two cables one for power and one for data. I have found another enclosure with only one usb3 cable which they claim can do both at the same time but I didnt get that one.

I will take a few pictures and report how the enclosure will perform

Also regarding your 12.7mm problem. I couldn't find any internal drives in that size that would work with makemkv since there are simply no custom firmwares. However there are some 9.5mm to 12.7mm 'adapters' for notebooks so you just put your 9.5mm drive like bu40n into the adapter and the adapter into your notebook.

[omk1980]

I was thinking of getting the bu40n but my laptop optical Bay is 12.7mm so it won't fit. I was looking at the enclosure linked and it looks good, but it doesn't look like it's externally powered. Don't a lot of these drives give errors on uhd discs due to power requirement issues?

Well I still went with the inexpensive enclosure. Drive and enclosure will arrive next week. I didn't want the vantec as it's too bulky.

Both of the enclosures I linked two cables one for power and one for data. I have found another enclosure with only one usb3 cable which they claim can do both at the same time but I didnt get that one.

I will take a few pictures and report how the enclosure will perform

Also regarding your 12.7mm problem. I couldn't find any internal drives in that size that would work with makemkv since there are simply no custom firmwares. However there are some 9.5mm to 12.7mm 'adapters' for notebooks so you just put your 9.5mm drive like bu40n into the adapter and the adapter into your notebook.

Do you have a link for a 9.5mm to 12.7mnm adapter? All the ones I'm seeing only fit a 2.5 inch ssd.

[regexp]

@blackjack4494: Did you get the Salcar or techpulse120 enclosure and how did it work out?

[Tanquen]

I just got the LG BU40N drive with the Archgon case and I failed to copy a disc twice using the split USB 2.0 and 3.0 cable. I'm not sure if it's power related because I don't know how much power those ports are putting out or if it's enough. They do have power. I did switch to the supplied USB-C cable and it worked with the port on the back of the motherboard. I'll have to do a few more discs as the two times it failed were random percentages of the copy of the same disc.

[Billycar11]

Yeah that's the only downside of the BU40N when using it over usb you need high powered USB ports. Or the drive will reboot

[SamuriHL]

Yea, as I told you, I use it on my laptop with USB C and have had no problems at all. It's a beast of a drive and I think USB C is the best way to go for this drive.