Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2023

[Billycar11]

Well, after several years of faithful service, I finally managed to kill my MSI UHD drive today. So, which drive is currently the easiest to obtain and easiest to flash for UHD compatibility?

easiest is to buy a Pioneer flashed from one of us

other wise any of the lg /asus drives in the guide is the same difficulty to flash

[asmcom]

Well, after several years of faithful service, I finally managed to kill my MSI UHD drive today. So, which drive is currently the easiest to obtain and easiest to flash for UHD compatibility?

Hi Chipless,

Please see our MakeMKV sellers page with a list of drives and our email address.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19387

Asmcom

[asmcom]

i mean my opinion is avoid all LG/Asus 5.25 desktop drives my fail rate was so high on those i had to stop selling them.
the pioneers are the best by far
the BU40N BP50/60 are not bad they are also faster than the pioneers.
but if your buying from a seller they are cherry picking the drive for as it will be tested so buy whatever you want then.

Well said Billycar11 and you are on the button.

Asmcom

I wanted to buy drive(s) from you, sadly your shop is not active.

However I found used ASUS BW-16D1HT with OWC Mercury Pro enclosure nearby for 125€ incl. shipping. "FW 3.10, bought on Christmas 2021 and selling it because after 5 rips I had no use for it and it was catching dust".
Or another drive I found is Hitachi BH16NS55 for 45€ (without enclosure) with not as much info about it as the aforementioned ASUS.
However, is this true? -> viewtopic.php?f=16&t=27725&p=120319#:~: ... er%20break I was thinking of using BR or M-DISC as a cold storage for family photos and such.
If I get burned by the used ASUS I found nearby, I will most likely get the next one from you.
And even if it will work I'll probably stop by for 2nd drive.

Enjoy your vacation! (I presume, 'cuz summer)

PS: I didn't just ignore your heads-up Billycar11 about the fail rate. However I can't get my hands on BU40N BP50/60 and Pioneer is so much more expensive here.

We are supplying every day from our seller page on MakeMKV.

viewtopic.php?t=19387

Asmcom

[Exponent]

I just wanted to drop in and say that I bought a pre-flashed Pioneer XS07S from Billycar11 a month ago or so.
The immediate reply and customer service from Billy was great!
The Pioneer XS07S drive also works fine. I used it heavily about 3 weeks ago, and it held up well.
That's my report - I can highly recommend working with Billy to back up your valuable UHD disks.

[KidJoe]

Unfortunately with 1.02MK, Passkey complains that the drive isn't compatible. Searching, it appears 1.00DE would work for both MakeMKV and Passkey.

What are the differences between 1.00DE and 1.02MK? Should I be concerned about read errors happening again if I flash to 1.00DE?

Here is why I ask:

I have a WH16NS40 (NS50 label) that I had flashed long ago when a plain SATA (Non-AHCI) controller was needed. I don't recall what firmware that was. BUT the drive worked with both MakeMKV and DVDFab Passkey.

Trying to rip with MakeMKV, I had re-errors once in a while in the past. Passkey was worse with lots of retries but eventually read the discs. The latest issue was with brand new Avatar Way of Water 4K disc, there were 3 .m2ts files MakeMKV reported errors with which caused the rip to fail. So I decided to flash to the 1.02MK firmware to see if that helps. It did. With 1.02MK MakeMKV ripped the entire movie. The 3 .m2ts that errored with the older firmware read just fine with MakeMKV and the newly flashed 1.02MK firmware. The resulting MKV plays fine.

Since flashing to 1.02MK, I have tried re-ripping several times, and it continues to work without error. So it does appear that 1.02MK helped.

Prior to flashing 1.02MK, I did try cleaning the disc with soapy water and microfiber cloth. Powering the PC off, waiting a little then turning it on. Ejecting and re-inserting, etc.

[asmcom]

Unfortunately with 1.02MK, Passkey complains that the drive isn't compatible. Searching, it appears 1.00DE would work for both MakeMKV and Passkey.

What are the differences between 1.00DE and 1.02MK? Should I be concerned about read errors happening again if I flash to 1.00DE?

Here is why I ask:

I have a WH16NS40 (NS50 label) that I had flashed long ago when a plain SATA (Non-AHCI) controller was needed. I don't recall what firmware that was. BUT the drive worked with both MakeMKV and DVDFab Passkey.

Trying to rip with MakeMKV, I had re-errors once in a while in the past. Passkey was worse with lots of retries but eventually read the discs. The latest issue was with brand new Avatar Way of Water 4K disc, there were 3 .m2ts files MakeMKV reported errors with which caused the rip to fail. So I decided to flash to the 1.02MK firmware to see if that helps. It did. With 1.02MK MakeMKV ripped the entire movie. The 3 .m2ts that errored with the older firmware read just fine with MakeMKV and the newly flashed 1.02MK firmware. The resulting MKV plays fine.

Since flashing to 1.02MK, I have tried re-ripping several times, and it continues to work without error. So it does appear that 1.02MK helped.

Prior to flashing 1.02MK, I did try cleaning the disc with soapy water and microfiber cloth. Powering the PC off, waiting a little then turning it on. Ejecting and re-inserting, etc.

Firmware 1-02mk is better than 1-00DE in the number of discs that will rip without issues. Testing over the years, we have found a 10% failure rate with the WH16NS60 on BD100 titles. The Pioneer drives, on the other hand, will back up 100% of any discs we have tried. When you flash back to 1-00DE, you will find that the drive is more selective on what it backups.

Asmcom

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19387

[asmcom]

Is there an external USB enclosure that supports flashing and that is easily obtainable in europe?

Yes the Vantec NST-540S3-BK DX2, Vantec NST-536S3-BK, Vantec NST-510S3-BK or OWC Mercury Pro.

We are the European distributer for Vantec so we have plenty of stock of any of the above enclosures. OWC also available.

If you want a quotation please email us.

See our seller page URL below.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19387

Asmcom

[asmcom]

Yep - it is strange.

I have 4 drives now - two Asus and one LG that are BDXL compatible and then the LG NS60, which is official. I had one of the original NS60 with Firmware 1.00. I don't suppose the latest will work without a firmware patch/downgrade.

The least amount of issues I have ever had are with the official drive.

One difference is that my NS60 is on the SATA bus while the ASUS drive is on the USB 3 bus.

In any case, I like to spread the backup duties around so no single drive does all the work.

-

Good idea.

Asmcom

[tomasme]

I had no idea about this....I figured all Blu-Ray drives would play 4K Blu-Ray discs. You guys saved me big time. I used Marty's flasher and it worked perfectly. Thanks!!

[glc650]

I figured all Blu-Ray drives would play 4K Blu-Ray discs.

It's no different than BR players. You need a 4K BR player in order to play 4K movies.

[Dino-Killer 912]

I saw there is a 1.04 firmware for BU40N in the ‘BU40N-N-Main’ folder within the MK firmwares, is it different from the recommended 1.03? How do I tell if my drive is the “BU40N-N-Main” model?

[MartyMcNuts]

I saw there is a 1.04 firmware for BU40N in the ‘BU40N-N-Main’ folder within the MK firmwares, is it different from the recommended 1.03? How do I tell if my drive is the “BU40N-N-Main” model?

1.04 is sh!t. Stick with 1.03.

[patricia-p]

It's possible to recover if you can find bu20 fw and can use dos flash on your pc

Can you help me find bu20 firmware please? I looked for HP and the original hardware it was on LG but it may never have been updated hence not available as a download.

Do I need a specific version of dos flash?

BU20N (SO5JH) FW BU24 HW: A
KCC-REM-HLD-BU10N

2016 07 10

CT: 7EEPQDAGY343YL

HP PN: 762434-800

Spares PN: 781417-001

I am unable to add any more images as I have reached the limit.

[Billycar11]

It's possible to recover if you can find bu20 fw and can use dos flash on your pc

Can you help me find bu20 firmware please? I looked for HP and the original hardware it was on LG but it may never have been updated hence not available as a download.

Do I need a specific version of dos flash?

BU20N (SO5JH) FW BU24 HW: A
KCC-REM-HLD-BU10N

2016 07 10

CT: 7EEPQDAGY343YL

HP PN: 762434-800

Spares PN: 781417-001

I am unable to add any more images as I have reached the limit.

can you pc use dosflash like it has ide mode in the bios not only ahci?
if you dont have ide mode just give up

[patricia-p]

It's possible to recover if you can find bu20 fw and can use dos flash on your pc.

can you pc use dosflash like it has ide mode in the bios not only ahci?
if you dont have ide mode just give up

I don’t have IDE and it’s time to accept that I borked the drive beyond recovery. Thanks for your help.