Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2024

[Coopervid]

Also the sticker on the back is perfect (flawless).

A 209 can't be crossflashed to 212 and vice versa. Return it and order another one.

[Naiera]

My Verbatim/Pioneer 35888 shit the bed a few days ago and now I'm looking for something more durable. I've had it for just under two years and it's already stopped reading discs. They spin and it sounds like it's supposed to, but neither the OS nor MakeMKV sees anything

I'll be buying and flashing myself or having my friend in Delaware doing the flashing. Just looking for suggestions for an external drive that plays well with MacOS and doesn't break after reading a few hundred discs.

I contacted Verbatim one day before the warranty ran out and got them to do an RMA after a few e-mails back and forth. They sent me a replacement (apparently; I knew nothing until the shipment showed up in my tracking app) and it rips UHD Blu-rays

[Wall.E]

What you are describing is the sleep bug but normally opening and closing the drive tray via the button is all that is needed. If you can't do that then perhaps you some sort of issue with consistent power getting to the drive.

Maybe, as for the 1st time I had a case where the drive stopped working in the middle of a rip!
Same symptom, drive not responding at all, neither to MakeMKV, not by pressing the open/close button

But the weird thing is I never had that behaviour with the 3.11 Asus firmware, neither with the old LG drive I had just before and I was replacing by the Asus.
It's only happening with the 3.10MK firmware.

But... that's not all with this Asus drive.
On top of that, I think I have the same kind of issue as this one...
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24027

Some disks that I've been able to rip those last 2 days (prior to the flash of the 3.10MK firmware though) can't be ripped any more. The rip keeps on failing

So to be honest, I think I start to understand the comment regarding LG & Asus drives and I'll return this one.
I've already placed an order for a BDR-212V that should arrive in 1 week or 2.

In the meantime, I'll probably go back to the original firmware as it didn't had this hard version of the sleeping bug and I need to flash it back anyway to return the drive.

Thanks to Billycar11 & Coopervid for their advises to go for Pioneer!

[Nick-P]

Does the Hardware Type (or Hardware Rev) e.g., SAT 8601 or SAT 8800 remain the same after flashing? Is that a reading from a chip at the hardware level?

How can I know for sure its a fake?

Does this mean it also probably wasn't really manufactured this year?

[Coopervid]

Does the Hardware Type (or Hardware Rev) e.g., SAT 8601 or SAT 8800 remain the same after flashing? Is that a reading from a chip at the hardware level?

How can I know for sure its a fake?

Does this mean it also probably wasn't really manufactured this year?

Details only via PM regarding firmwares.

My guess is that someone ordered a 212V, detached the stickers using hot air, put it on his 209 and returned that to get his money back. Check the Makemkv info on this drive and it will at least show the firmware date. Further info only via PM.

[Chicknlidl]

Thank you all for the hard work you put in to this. I enjoy the convenience of streaming from my NAS to my Kodi on an Odroid N2+.

I have been getting by with my LG WH14NS40.

I just picked up a Pioneer BDR-212V, which of course does not have all features from the start, but it did power up and display in makemkv.

Since I just joined up, I can't PM yet. I will try to make some useful posts to resolve that.