Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2024

[jonghotti]

A question to the resellers,
I had a WH16NS40 fail on me recently. I purchased another one and had a bunch of hash errors. I cleaned the hell out of the discs and they still didn't work (including old ones i've ripped).
Replaced that one and now everything has ripped flawlessly, however the drive bay makes a scratching noise when it opens and closes.

Have you guys noticed poor quality control on these drives?
Do the WH16NS60 series seem to have better quality control?

WH16NS60 have even worse quality control that why I stopped selling all desktop drives I only do Slim's now. for desktop drives overall about 25% of them will get hash errors on UHD disks. Then I swapped to Slim's only

Overall about 25% of THE UNITS YOU WORKED WITH, not out of every drive in existence.

[Locutos]

I can recommend the external drive https://www.amazon.de/techPulse120-Supe ... 158&sr=8-4 .Works fine....

[MartyMcNuts]

I can recommend the external drive https://www.amazon.de/techPulse120-Supe ... 158&sr=8-4 .Works fine....

Can you tell us a bit about this drive?

What drive model does MakeMKV say it is?
What firmware did the drive come with?
What firmware do you use for UHD?

[asmcom]

Hi Marty

It is a Hitachi LG-BU40N-N inside. Great design. PM me if you want more info.

Asmcom

[bgrngod]

These types of threads are always a little confusing to work through, so I figured I'd share what I did to get this working. Helpful note, I don't care about this drive doing anything else but ripping UHD's in MakeMKV, so if that's all you need you can follow along and probably be ok.

I bought from Amazon US these two things that are noted in the OP. Total was a fart north of $100:

• LG BU40N, UHD Official Internal Slim Sata 9.5mm
• Vantec NST-510S3-BK 9.5mm slim sata case

The drive I received was manufactured in Oct 2019 with "ROM VER: 1.03".

My steps after hardware in hand:
1: Put drive in enclosure. Derp derp. If you screw this up, just stop now and uninstall your computer.
2: Downloaded the latest "MK" firmware pack from this thread: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 19&t=19113
3: Downloaded the .exe flasher from this Youtube video's link, found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/102V7DU ... meZTN/view (the flasher is in the bundle with the other stuff you can ignore)
4: Plug your drive into your rig (use the thick blue USB plug) and do not put a disk in it yet (slow down turbo)
5: Run the .exe found in step 3 above. As of when I downloaded it, it's called: BH14NS40_N1.00-A4_patched.exe It will open a mid-aughts era looking UI "Download program" and "H-L Data Storage", along with a dropdown and some version info.
6: Of the buttons along the bottom edge, select the second one for picking your firmware. Find the file from the MK firmware pack: \MK\HL-DT-ST\BU40N-N\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.03-NM00000-211810241934
7: Hit button 3 to run the flash and wait a little bit. Good time to go wash your filthy hands!
8: Fire up some MakeMKV and rip it.

One of the things that tripped me up was trying to figure out exactly what version of the BU40N I got. The MK firmware pack has a pile of folders with 5 different versions of the BU40N such as ending in -B-Japan-Buffalo, -FR, -N, -R-Taiwan, -U. I tripped over a comment in another thread noting the -N is the US one so that is what I swung at first.

[Tico_RC]

Hi Billycar11

I need your help. Suddenly my LG WH16NS40 drive stopped reading Blu-rays and UHD discs (and I didn't do anything)
Drive reads regular CDs without a problem

In an attempt to recover it, I tried with "ASUS_ODD_FW_Changer_(Modified)" and flashed the DE_ASUS_BW-16D 1HT_3.02, with no success. I re-flashed back to "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS40-NS50-1.03-NM00600-211711211653" and saw no success either

Do you have a clue of what can I do?

Thanks!!!

This Guide Is Made By: Billy/Billycar11, Alex/jonghotti, MartyMcNuts, Blackened2687, d00zah, mike admin, SamuriHL, st4evr, TeddyRaspin and Woodstock
Even if they didn't contribute directly i have used their information

Recommended UHD Drives to get:



All of these drives will need to be flashed to unlock UHD Reading/Ripping

LG WH16NS60, UHD Official Internal 5.25
LG BU40N, UHD Official Internal Slim Sata 9.5mm
LG WH14NS40, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25
LG WH16NS40, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25
ASUS BW-16D1HT, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25
ASUS BW-16D1HT Pro, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25
LG BH16NS55, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25
Buffalo BRUHD-PU3-BK, UHD Official, External Slim 9.5mm USB 3.0-Must use Marty's asus tool to flash
Archgon MD-8107S-U3-UHD, UHD Official, External Slim 9.5mm USB 3.0-Marty
BP60NB10, UHD Official External Slim 9.5mm USB 2.0-Must use Marty's asus tool to flash 8/24/19 or later only
BP50NB40, UHD Officialish External Slim 9.5mm USB 2.0-Must use Marty's asus tool to flash 8/24/19 or later only with HBD Firmware only


There is no “Best Drive” They are all made by LG and rebranded the drives just fit different use cases.



Recommended Pre-Flashed Drive Sellers:
We are not affiliated with MakeMKV just fellow users

Billy: Billycar5924@gmail.com
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20&t=17831 USA


Alex: alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20&t=17829 USA & International


Marty: martymcnuts@outlook.com
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20&t=18747 Australia & NZ only

additional resources/options can be found here:
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=20



USB enclosures/sata adapters that work with optical drives and flashing:

Vantec NST-536S3-BK 5.25 case
Vantec NST-510S3-BK 9.5mm slim sata case
OWC Mercury Pro 5.25 case
Unitek Y-1034 USB to sata cable-Marty
Unitek Y-1099 USB to sata cable-fishman
ICY BOX IB-550StU3S 5.25 case-ddeconin

USB enclosures/sata adapters that work with optical drives but don't support flashing:

Vantec CB-ST00U3?
Buffalo BR3D-12U3

Sleep Bug:

All UHD Friendly drives have the sleep bug, this is when a UHD disk is left idle in the drive for 2 minutes. Once the drive goes to sleep, the UHD Friendly drive will no longer be able to read the disk without opening and closing the disk tray and will make horrible seeking noises until this is done.

Sleep Bug Fix:

To fix the sleep bug on a UHD Friendly drive flash firmware from an UHD Official drive like WH16NS60 DE 1.00 or 1.01MK

IMPORTANT Before you flash:

1. Make sure your Drive was built after 2015
2. Drive Platform MT1959<Most important
3. SVC NS50+ LG only
4. Just because your drive is the same model number does not mean it will work, if you are unsure ask me i offer remote flashing and check everything before i flash.
5. Dont flash your dive if it does not meet these requirements if you do you will be unable to read all disks and unable to restore without dosflash that does not work on most modern computers

Crossflashing:

1. Changes the drive to act as another and gain most or all of its benefits
2. Can be used to increase a drives ripping speed and fix the sleep bug



Crossflashing Warnings:

1. Don't crossflash desktop drives to slim drives or the other way around
2. In some cases crossflashing an Asus drive to an LG or the other way around you may no longer be able to burn disks-SamuriHL
3. Flashing Official UHD firmware to a UHD Friendly drive will not enable Powerdvd aacs 2 decryption or playback

Newer OEM Firmwares:

LG 1.04+ BU40N 1.03 Asus 3.10+ and similar
The newer OEM firmwares cannot be flashed easily due to the additional downgrade checks. If your drive has one of these firmwares, and there is no MK version of the same or higher number, you will have to sidegrade to Asus 3.10MKor LG 1.04MK. Then flash to your desired firmware if you don't want that one.


Unlocked Flashers, Downgrade Enabled Firmware and MK Firmware:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=18933
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 873#p70284
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 19&t=19113
https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 19&t=19422



How To Flash Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfpf6HoMMis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgybNfHhcg - Obsolete but can be useful for recovery

NS40 Recovery Image:
Flashed an NS50 firmware to an NS40 drive and can no longer read disks this IMG has all the NS40 FW you need to recover your drive just follow my dos flash video guide linked above
https://www.mediafire.com/file/8by2zqop ... D.zip/file Made by

Useful Links:
Manual Libredrive SDF download only for offline systems: http://www.makemkv.com/svq/sdf.bin
Hashed keys for UHD disks only for offline systems: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 12&t=16959

[Billycar11]

Hi Billycar11

I need your help. Suddenly my LG WH16NS40 drive stopped reading Blu-rays and UHD discs (and I didn't do anything)
Drive reads regular CDs without a problem

In an attempt to recover it, I tried with "ASUS_ODD_FW_Changer_(Modified)" and flashed the DE_ASUS_BW-16D 1HT_3.02, with no success. I re-flashed back to "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS40-NS50-1.03-NM00600-211711211653" and saw no success either

Do you have a clue of what can I do?

Thanks!!!

You can try cleaning the laser the drive has separate lasters for DVD and Blu-ray red and blue just clean both and see if that fixes it

[braigo64]

These types of threads are always a little confusing to work through, so I figured I'd share what I did to get this working. Helpful note, I don't care about this drive doing anything else but ripping UHD's in MakeMKV, so if that's all you need you can follow along and probably be ok.

I bought from Amazon US these two things that are noted in the OP. Total was a fart north of $100:

• LG BU40N, UHD Official Internal Slim Sata 9.5mm
• Vantec NST-510S3-BK 9.5mm slim sata case

The drive I received was manufactured in Oct 2019 with "ROM VER: 1.03".

My steps after hardware in hand:
1: Put drive in enclosure. Derp derp. If you screw this up, just stop now and uninstall your computer.
2: Downloaded the latest "MK" firmware pack from this thread: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 19&t=19113
3: Downloaded the .exe flasher from this Youtube video's link, found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/102V7DU ... meZTN/view (the flasher is in the bundle with the other stuff you can ignore)
4: Plug your drive into your rig (use the thick blue USB plug) and do not put a disk in it yet (slow down turbo)
5: Run the .exe found in step 3 above. As of when I downloaded it, it's called: BH14NS40_N1.00-A4_patched.exe It will open a mid-aughts era looking UI "Download program" and "H-L Data Storage", along with a dropdown and some version info.
6: Of the buttons along the bottom edge, select the second one for picking your firmware. Find the file from the MK firmware pack: \MK\HL-DT-ST\BU40N-N\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.03-NM00000-211810241934
7: Hit button 3 to run the flash and wait a little bit. Good time to go wash your filthy hands!
8: Fire up some MakeMKV and rip it.

One of the things that tripped me up was trying to figure out exactly what version of the BU40N I got. The MK firmware pack has a pile of folders with 5 different versions of the BU40N such as ending in -B-Japan-Buffalo, -FR, -N, -R-Taiwan, -U. I tripped over a comment in another thread noting the -N is the US one so that is what I swung at first.

I plan on following your instructions. I looked up the drive on Amazon and saw that it says it's only compatible with Windows 8.1 and 10. I have a Win7 box I've been using exclusively for my rips. Do you know if this slim drive will work on Win7 or will I have to update to Win10?

[jetcobra]

I am new to this having just got my first UHD disc (Midway). I have a Sony UHD player, but wanted to be able to rip UHD discs. I have a HTPC capable of playing/ripping UHD discs with the right tools and previously had AnyDVD for that purpose for BluRay/HDDVD discs but now they are no longer accessible for me.

So I ordered and received a LG WH14NS40 drive built in Januay 2020, SVC Code NS50, ROM VER: 1.04.

I also downloaded the deflash and flash tools along with the firmware.

Just wanted to make sure that this drive is acceptable to do this process??

Thanks

[jetcobra]

I am new to this having just got my first UHD disc (Midway). I have a Sony UHD player, but wanted to be able to rip UHD discs. I have a HTPC capable of playing/ripping UHD discs with the right tools and previously had AnyDVD for that purpose for BluRay/HDDVD discs but now they are no longer accessible for me.

So I ordered and received a LG WH14NS40 drive built in Januay 2020, SVC Code NS50, ROM VER: 1.04.

I also downloaded the deflash and flash tools along with the firmware.

Just wanted to make sure that this drive is acceptable to do this process??

Thanks

[Billycar11]

I am new to this having just got my first UHD disc (Midway). I have a Sony UHD player, but wanted to be able to rip UHD discs. I have a HTPC capable of playing/ripping UHD discs with the right tools and previously had AnyDVD for that purpose for BluRay/HDDVD discs but now they are no longer accessible for me.

So I ordered and received a LG WH14NS40 drive built in Januay 2020, SVC Code NS50, ROM VER: 1.04.

I also downloaded the deflash and flash tools along with the firmware.

Just wanted to make sure that this drive is acceptable to do this process??

Thanks

Yeah flash it to WH16NS60 1.02 mk if you use makemkv

[Moebius01]

Yeah flash it to WH16NS60 1.02 mk if you use makemkv

Ok, I reeeeaaaallllyyy didn't want my first post on this forum to be an "I'm confused" post, but the more I've read through this and the other threads, I've managed to get myself confused. Long story short, building a new box (current one coming up on 7 years old), and as I've been in the process of ripping my entire collection to a Synology NAS (using MakeMKV), I decided I'd try to grab a UHD Friendly drive and see if I couldn't finally get to ripping my small-but-growing UHD collection as well. With that in mind, I snagged a new LG WH14NS40. Mfr Dec 2019, SVC code is NS50, and ROM ver 1.04.

Where I've managed to get myself confused is it seems there are different downgrade/firmware/crossflashers and multiple firmware versions and methods. In the first post, it notes about the LG 1.04+ firmware having downgrade checks, so you have to cross flash before.

LG 1.04+ BU40N 1.03 Asus 3.10+ and similar
The newer OEM firmwares cannot be flashed easily due to the additional downgrade checks. If your drive has one of these firmwares, and there is no MK version of the same or higher number, you will have to sidegrade to Asus 3.10MKor LG 1.04MK. Then flash to your desired firmware if you don't want that one.

So as I have a 1.04 firmware, I'm assuming this applies. Where I'm a bit confused is "if your drive has one of these and there is no MK version of the same or higher, you will have to sidegrade to Asus 3.10MK or LG 1.04MK." However, none of the downloads I have found so far seem to have an LG 1.04 MK, or at least I'm not seeing the right file name. I'm sure I'm just missing it, but if someone could point me to which thread it's in and the file name, I'd appreciate it.

The second piece is the flashers themselves. We have 4 links in the first post, and I'm having a little trouble discerning which would apply to the LG drive I have, and if I need 2 executables with 1 to sidegrade to 1.04Mk and a second to downgrade to WH16NS60 1.02 mk. I'll only be using the drive for ripping, and VERY occasionally burning a disc or playing one to verify it works or find the right MPL, no other player or ripping software is really in play, so it seems this would be the best firmware option. My only confusion is which method and files I need to take the LG I have to it.

[jetcobra]

In my list of FW's downloaded I do not see WH16NS60 v 1.02

These are what I have in my download: WH16NS60 v 1.00, WH14NS40 v 1.02 or WH16NS40 v 1.02.

Which is best?

Thanks for your help

[harryredcap]

A big thank you to Billycarr and the other people who made this guide possible. I must say I am very grateful to Makemkv for the information provided and also help provided.

I would like to especially thank two very kind and helpful people.

TeddyRaspin has been very helpful easily taking a couple of hours of his time today supporting a new LG drive I own. Teddy is working on supporting the new firmware and adding it to the MK pack.

Asmcom has been amazing supporting my new NAS drive project and Dune Media player and has spoken with me numerous times explaining all the different options and links to relevant articles.

I have now posted both the Dune and the NAS Drive to Asmcom who has also supplied me with 8 x WD Red Pro 12TB drives at an amazing price. I will use 2 x M2 SSD drive for cache. Very hard to make up my mind but I am going to go with raid 5, thick volume even though I know raid 10 is a safer bet but I feel I am losing too much storage.

Asmcom insists he is not charging me for setting up my dune and Qnap NAS.

You could not find two better individuals than TeddyRaspin and Asmcom, absolute gentlemen.

Thank you so much Teddy and Asmcom. Also thanks to the people involved in writing this guide.

Harry...

[MartyMcNuts]

Yeah flash it to WH16NS60 1.02 mk if you use makemkv

Ok, I reeeeaaaallllyyy didn't want my first post on this forum to be an "I'm confused" post, but the more I've read through this and the other threads, I've managed to get myself confused. Long story short, building a new box (current one coming up on 7 years old), and as I've been in the process of ripping my entire collection to a Synology NAS (using MakeMKV), I decided I'd try to grab a UHD Friendly drive and see if I couldn't finally get to ripping my small-but-growing UHD collection as well. With that in mind, I snagged a new LG WH14NS40. Mfr Dec 2019, SVC code is NS50, and ROM ver 1.04.

Where I've managed to get myself confused is it seems there are different downgrade/firmware/crossflashers and multiple firmware versions and methods. In the first post, it notes about the LG 1.04+ firmware having downgrade checks, so you have to cross flash before.

LG 1.04+ BU40N 1.03 Asus 3.10+ and similar
The newer OEM firmwares cannot be flashed easily due to the additional downgrade checks. If your drive has one of these firmwares, and there is no MK version of the same or higher number, you will have to sidegrade to Asus 3.10MKor LG 1.04MK. Then flash to your desired firmware if you don't want that one.

So as I have a 1.04 firmware, I'm assuming this applies. Where I'm a bit confused is "if your drive has one of these and there is no MK version of the same or higher, you will have to sidegrade to Asus 3.10MK or LG 1.04MK." However, none of the downloads I have found so far seem to have an LG 1.04 MK, or at least I'm not seeing the right file name. I'm sure I'm just missing it, but if someone could point me to which thread it's in and the file name, I'd appreciate it.

The second piece is the flashers themselves. We have 4 links in the first post, and I'm having a little trouble discerning which would apply to the LG drive I have, and if I need 2 executables with 1 to sidegrade to 1.04Mk and a second to downgrade to WH16NS60 1.02 mk. I'll only be using the drive for ripping, and VERY occasionally burning a disc or playing one to verify it works or find the right MPL, no other player or ripping software is really in play, so it seems this would be the best firmware option. My only confusion is which method and files I need to take the LG I have to it.

Both the ASUS and LG flashers will work. What you have read is accurate, however, there is now a WH14NS40_NS50 1.04-MK available. If you download the ASUS flasher and firmware pack from the first post in thread https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=18933 you will find the 1.04-MK firmware in the MK folder.