Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[chburnbd]

Just to confirm...

Pioneer drives with the latest firmware cant be flashed to read UHD with Makemkv?

So i'm taking my chances if I but this one? https://www.amazon.com/PIONEER-BDR-S13U ... B0BN65Q26X

Thank you.

[Billycar11]

Just to confirm...

Pioneer drives with the latest firmware cant be flashed to read UHD with Makemkv?

So i'm taking my chances if I but this one? https://www.amazon.com/PIONEER-BDR-S13U ... B0BN65Q26X

Thank you.

Yeah it fw is after 12/22 can't be flashed.

I have that exact drive with old fw see below ready to ship anywhere in the USA

[Grayman2024]

Hi there - wonder if anyone can assist me. I have a Archgon MD8107U3 drive that someone has given me which now does not work. It's a basically looks like it is bricked, the last thing they did with it was using the F/W windows tool and flashed it to See the makemkv screen shot shot. So, the drive now will pick up, but you cannot eject or effectively get it to respond. Any tips on how I get this if possible back working.

Interestingly when I try and reflash it via cmd line (I have nothing to lose as this was effectivley given to me as E-Waste) I get this
Reading input file D:\BLURAY\mk-firmware-pack-20200720\FW\MK\old\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-U101-MM01201-211711301153.bin
Flashing flags = 0x0 : 0 0 0 0 : ---- ---- ---- ----
Sending image in encrypted format
Drive tray is open, please close it and try again
DEBUG: Code 4278567171 at wfCw3OE9o6xoDD[;$ZOJdpeNgiQob2>_:29396644

Command produced error code 0xff05c103

Regardless of what ever firmware I try. Is this E-Waste or can it be salvaged?

Many Thanks.

[Billycar11]

Hi there - wonder if anyone can assist me. I have a Archgon MD8107U3 drive that someone has given me which now does not work. It's a basically looks like it is bricked, the last thing they did with it was using the F/W windows tool and flashed it to See the makemkv screen shot shot. So, the drive now will pick up, but you cannot eject or effectively get it to respond. Any tips on how I get this if possible back working.

Interestingly when I try and reflash it via cmd line (I have nothing to lose as this was effectivley given to me as E-Waste) I get this
Reading input file D:\BLURAY\mk-firmware-pack-20200720\FW\MK\old\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-U101-MM01201-211711301153.bin
Flashing flags = 0x0 : 0 0 0 0 : ---- ---- ---- ----
Sending image in encrypted format
Drive tray is open, please close it and try again
DEBUG: Code 4278567171 at wfCw3OE9o6xoDD[;$ZOJdpeNgiQob2>_:29396644

Command produced error code 0xff05c103

Regardless of what ever firmware I try. Is this E-Waste or can it be salvaged?

Many Thanks.

Try with no enc

[Grayman2024]

Sorry but had the same result. So I assume this is bricked.

[thirdgen89gta]

Just wanted to come here and say that I do not regret getting the Pioneer drive from BillyCar. It's been months since I bought it, and it hasn't missed a SINGLE disc. I will admit, it is slower, but not that much, and its worth the wait because it rips perfectly every time.

[Tristanna]

Pioneer yes, but which model?

[Billycar11]

Pioneer yes, but which model?

any of the pioneers i sell are great but i recommend the UBK overall the UX has minimal improvement for a lot more

[Phoenix0870]

I just tried one of each of these sata-usb adapters and neither worked for flashing, which was strange because it was (visually) the one Marty said he had, but the part number IS different.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VR52ZZ0
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CK205ZG

Shall I send them back stating they don't support optical drives?

Hello.
Does this USB adapter also work for firmware flash?
Inateck USB 3.0 to SATA converter adapter for 2.5/3.5 inches drive HDD SSD

Specifications: Output Interface: USB 3.0/2.0 Power Input: 100-240V, 50/60Hz; Output: DC 12 V/2 A HDD Compatibility: All 2.5"/3.5" SATA HDDs Connection of Bluray, DVD, CD drives, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW possible

https://www.ebay.de/itm/175131704887?_s ... 2256179279

[Coopervid]

I just tried one of each of these sata-usb adapters and neither worked for flashing, which was strange because it was (visually) the one Marty said he had, but the part number IS different.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VR52ZZ0
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CK205ZG

Shall I send them back stating they don't support optical drives?

Hello.
Does this USB adapter also work for firmware flash?
Inateck USB 3.0 to SATA converter adapter for 2.5/3.5 inches drive HDD SSD

Specifications: Output Interface: USB 3.0/2.0 Power Input: 100-240V, 50/60Hz; Output: DC 12 V/2 A HDD Compatibility: All 2.5"/3.5" SATA HDDs Connection of Bluray, DVD, CD drives, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW possible

https://www.ebay.de/itm/175131704887?_s ... 2256179279

Not sure. I'm sure this works even for flashing. So spend a few Euros more.

https://www.amazon.de/BENFEI-SATA-USB-K ... r=8-1&th=1

[Tristanna]

Pioneer yes, but which model?

any of the pioneers i sell are great but i recommend the UBK overall the UX has minimal improvement for a lot more

You recommend all Pioneer models and in the photos it says “Firmware v.1.03 supports for MakeMKV, AnyDVD & Leawo UHD Ripper” but nowhere does it say “DVDFab”. Does this mean that Pioneer models aren't really compatible with “DVDFab”?

[Billycar11]

Pioneer yes, but which model?

any of the pioneers i sell are great but i recommend the UBK overall the UX has minimal improvement for a lot more

You recommend all Pioneer models and in the photos it says “Firmware v.1.03 supports for MakeMKV, AnyDVD & Leawo UHD Ripper” but nowhere does it say “DVDFab”. Does this mean that Pioneer models aren't really compatible with “DVDFab”?

they work with dvdfab for dvd and bluray but not UHD
but they are the way better drives and dvdfab is the worse program so the easy trade off to make is use makemkv or xreveal and get a pioneer drive.

[Tristanna]

any of the pioneers i sell are great but i recommend the UBK overall the UX has minimal improvement for a lot more

You recommend all Pioneer models and in the photos it says “Firmware v.1.03 supports for MakeMKV, AnyDVD & Leawo UHD Ripper” but nowhere does it say “DVDFab”. Does this mean that Pioneer models aren't really compatible with “DVDFab”?

they work with dvdfab for dvd and bluray but not UHD
but they are the way better drives and dvdfab is the worse program so the easy trade off to make is use makemkv or xreveal and get a pioneer drive.

Thanks Billycar11 for the answer and I didn't know that DVDFab was the worst program!
I didn't know about Xreveal and I'm going to test it, thanks for the info

[leonderooij]

Hi all, I received a bd drive yesterday, purchased a license and wanted to get started to rip my collection, but the flashing was a bit more complicated than anticipated I wrote down every step of what I did, but TL;DR - it didn't work out so great thus far, here goes:

This is an OWC Merucry PRO with a frontplate that does not show LG, onl "super multi" on the left and the "Blu-ray Disc" with logo on the right of the tray.

Following the procedures as found here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634

Read that the HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 is the same as the WH16NS40: https://www.reddit.com/r/makemkv/commen ... _bh16ns40/

The BH16NS40 is the same exact drive as the WH16NS40, same exact drive put on it whatever you'd put on a WH, which is pretty much anything (ASUS BW16, LG NS60). The BH model comes in a box, with a cable. The WH is a bare drive that comes in a plastic baggie, and sometimes not even in that

I hope this is correct.

---

I'm on Arch Linux

dmesg -T output when drive is connected:

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[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1e91, idProduct=de2c, bcdDevice= 1.00
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: Product: Mercury Pro Optical
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Other World Computing
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 2305248805F6
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb-storage 2-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] scsi host0: usb-storage 2-2:1.0
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] scsi 0:0:0:0: CD-ROM            HL-DT-ST BD-RE  BH16NS40  1.05 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: Power-on or device reset occurred
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: [sr0] scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0

Show drive identifier with makemkvcon told me that no drive was found:

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makemkvcon f -l

Found 0 drives(s)

But this was fixed by loading the `sg` kernel module:

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modprobe sg

Seeing following in my dmesg after this:

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[Wed Oct  9 06:18:52 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 5

Again trying to show drive identifier using makemkvcon:

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makemkvcon f -l

Found 1 drives(s)
00: dev_21:0, /dev/sr0, /dev/sr0
  HL-DT-ST_BD-RE__BH16NS40_1.05_212005061331_KLKO53G0843

Got that info from here: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/makemkv-c ... rive/23714
Who got it from here: viewtopic.php?t=16939&start=90#p81635

Make sure next boot the sg kernel mod gets loaded:

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echo sg | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/sg.conf

When now starting the `makemkv` application, I now see the following in the info section:

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Drive Information
OS device name: /dev/sr0
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BH16NS40
Revision: 1.05
Serial number: KLKO53G0843
Firmware date: 2120-05-06 13:31
Bus encryption flags: 17

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible (with patched firmware)
Drive platform: MT1959
Harware support: Yes
Firmware support: No
Firmware type: Original (patched version available)
Firmware version: 1.05
DVD all regions: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw data read: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw metadata read: Possible (with patched firmware)
Unrestricted read speed: Possible (with patched firmware)

This gives me hope

--

Ok reading further down the main thread and seeing mentions like this:

Hello. I have na LG WH16NS40, brand new with ... etc

With an answer to that like:

First thing is to make sure that the drive is SVC: NS50 (check drive label)

So this makes me unsure, is NS40 the same as NS50 ? I thought not, seeing lots of posts with ppl saying they are interchangeable and other that it is not.

So opened the enclosure and seeing the following on the label:

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Blu-ray Disc Rewriter
MODEL: BH16NS40
ROM VER: 1.05
Manufactured: MAY 2024
S/N 405HAGF197063
SVC CODE: NS51

Ahhhh so by NS50 or NS51 that is not the same as the last bits of the model.

Still not sure which to flash

Also the versioning confuses me.. so BH16NS40 is not necessarily an older model than the BH16NS60 ? (since my BH16NS40 is produce a couple of months ago...)

Closed the enclosure again.

--

Ok, i have read the first 10 pages of the thread and then the last 20 pages or so.. didn't read all 164 of them, so much!

On the first post i read:

Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
WH16NS60 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK
...

So i should be able to directly flash to the WH16NS60 firmware. (assuming that the BH vs WH prefix does not matter)

I downloaded the sdf.bin file.

And downloaded the all-you-need-firmware pack:

New! The all you need firmware pack: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HRnbXi ... sp=sharing

Downloaded the zip and put the file for LG 5.25 desktop into same dir as where i put the sdf.bin:

HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

I think my drive identifier is:

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dev_21:1

(it changed from dev_21:0 to dev_21:1 after i unplugged in between - got this value from `makemkv f -l`)

Then the final step:

7. to perform the flash, type "./makemkvcon f -d '/IOBDServices/D5D25996' -f /tmp/sdf.bin rawflash main -i /tmp/your firmware filename here
or ./makemkvcon f -d '/IOBDServices/D5D25996' -f /tmp/sdf.bin rawflash enc -i /tmp/your firmware filename here
if your firmware is on the encrypted list

Should become either:

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash main -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

or

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

So I've done it, after much reading I dare to ran the command.
Since I think my current firmware is encrypted i went for the latter:

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

But now it hangs................ ohno

Ok waited a full minute, i ctrl-c'ed it.

Why did the tool not print anything ? should I have waited longer ? I did not read anything about how long it would take...

Then tried by using `-d '/dev/sr0'` and tried using `main` instead of `enc`.

But all is the same, no progress, just hanging cli tool.

Using sudo also doesn't help.

I tried to strace the pid of the makemkvcon process but it seemed to do nothing.

ohno... i tried to disconnect and reconnect the drive and now i get nothing at all.. dmesg shows nothing anymore when connecting, is it bricked ?... well at least now the choice is made, i cannot return the drive anymore and i have to get this working.. or I've thrown away some good money. Let's see where this goes

Thinking my next step is to not use usb, connect it to a windows pc using SATA directly and see what happens. I'm afraid I've dug a hole for myself

If anyone has a tip how to proceed ? I would be very grateful I thought I was threading carefully.

[Billycar11]

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

That should have worked.

Power off the drive for 5 mins by using the power switch on back and then try again if the firmware did not change