USB enclosures / sata adapters for flashing

[Scentle5S]

Hello everyone,

I'm considering starting ripping blurays, and already read a fair bit on this forum before purchasing anything, including the ultimate guide. I think I'll go for the ASUS BW-16D1HT, as it seems to be warmly recommended around here. However, I'm having concerns about flashing, because I can't find any of the recommended SATA adapters in my area (french resident here). I also can't find any information on the forum about "what to look for" in an enclosure / adapter to ensure my drive will be fully supported.

I've been able to find some of the recommended enclosures, including the ICY BOX IB-550StU3S, but those are expensive, not necessarily my taste in terms of aesthetics, and require two purchases from different entities (so 2x shipping fees) for roughly the same price as ASUS's external version of the drive (which isn't my taste either). Add this to the fact that, although I don't have any desktop at the moment and probably won't for a while, I might put the drive in a desktop at some point, so I don't see the point of adding an extra 50 bucks for a plastic enclosure that will end up in a drawer down the line.

In the end, here's what I'd like to know :

1. Can you recommend other SATA adapters that would support optical drives and flashing (ideally available in France) ?
2. What do you guys recommend : SATA adapters or enclosures ?
3. If you prefer enclosures over adapters, do you go for the "manufacturer's version" (e.g. : ASUS's external model) or for a third party one ?
4. Can I "easily" take the drive off from ASUS's enclosure if I go for the external model and later want to make it an internal one ?

Thanks for your help and sorry for the newbie questions

[MartyMcNuts]

Hello everyone,

I'm considering starting ripping blurays, and already read a fair bit on this forum before purchasing anything, including the ultimate guide. I think I'll go for the ASUS BW-16D1HT, as it seems to be warmly recommended around here. However, I'm having concerns about flashing, because I can't find any of the recommended SATA adapters in my area (french resident here). I also can't find any information on the forum about "what to look for" in an enclosure / adapter to ensure my drive will be fully supported.

I've been able to find some of the recommended enclosures, including the ICY BOX IB-550StU3S, but those are expensive, not necessarily my taste in terms of aesthetics, and require two purchases from different entities (so 2x shipping fees) for roughly the same price as ASUS's external version of the drive (which isn't my taste either). Add this to the fact that, although I don't have any desktop at the moment and probably won't for a while, I might put the drive in a desktop at some point, so I don't see the point of adding an extra 50 bucks for a plastic enclosure that will end up in a drawer down the line.

In the end, here's what I'd like to know :

1. Can you recommend other SATA adapters that would support optical drives and flashing (ideally available in France) ?
2. What do you guys recommend : SATA adapters or enclosures ?
3. If you prefer enclosures over adapters, do you go for the "manufacturer's version" (e.g. : ASUS's external model) or for a third party one ?
4. Can I "easily" take the drive off from ASUS's enclosure if I go for the external model and later want to make it an internal one ?

Thanks for your help and sorry for the newbie questions

1. I can only recommend the Unitek Y-1039 and the Unitek Y-1099 SATA adapters. I have no idea if they are available in France.
2. If you will eventually put the drive in your PC, then go for an adapter.
3 & 4. The external ASUS is ok for standard blu-ray but is not (and most likely never will be) UHD compatible.

[PrimoAngelo]

I used Inatek UA1001 (chipset ASM105X) to flash my BH16NS55 and it seems to work well with ASUS Flasher (BH16NS55 from original 1.02 to 1.04 MK).
In the drive name I see the USB chipset name and the version of the firmware, if instead I connect the drive directly with the sata cable, I see the proper name and the firmware version.

https://www.inateck.com/it/catalog/prod ... egory/215/
https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00N4JLNXM

[Scentle5S]

Thank you both for your answers !

3 & 4. The external ASUS is ok for standard blu-ray but is not (and most likely never will be) UHD compatible.

Wow, I would never have thought that... To me, the drives were the same (considering that the "name" is the same), except that one comes with an external case and the other doesn't, that's tricky... The TLDR on the older UHD drives guide also seemed to suggest that the drives were identical :

TLDR: Buy internal or external ASUS BW-16* drive and do not update its firmware.

Can you confirm that the internal model is fine for all use-cases (including UHD) or should I go for another model ?

I used Inatek UA1001 (chipset ASM105X) to flash my BH16NS55 and it seems to work well with ASUS Flasher (BH16NS55 from original 1.02 to 1.04 MK).

Thanks for the suggestion, that's very encouraging. I might go for this one too then if no other suggestion pops up. I'll make sure to share feedback once everything is done.

[MartyMcNuts]

Thank you both for your answers !

3 & 4. The external ASUS is ok for standard blu-ray but is not (and most likely never will be) UHD compatible.

Wow, I would never have thought that... To me, the drives were the same (considering that the "name" is the same), except that one comes with an external case and the other doesn't, that's tricky... The TLDR on the older UHD drives guide also seemed to suggest that the drives were identical :

TLDR: Buy internal or external ASUS BW-16* drive and do not update its firmware.

Can you confirm that the internal model is fine for all use-cases (including UHD) or should I go for another model ?

I used Inatek UA1001 (chipset ASM105X) to flash my BH16NS55 and it seems to work well with ASUS Flasher (BH16NS55 from original 1.02 to 1.04 MK).

Thanks for the suggestion, that's very encouraging. I might go for this one too then if no other suggestion pops up. I'll make sure to share feedback once everything is done.

The internal ASUS BW-16D1HT is good for UHD. The external BW-16D1HT-U (or whatever "U" designation replacement) are not. The external contains a Pioneer drive which is not UHD compatible.

[PrimoAngelo]

Ahahah, you call it!
From today, both the suggested adapters are available on amazon in Europe!!! Keepa sent me a notification.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B06WWLCYC3
https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00GLL41MA

[MartyMcNuts]

Ahahah, you call it!
From today, both the suggested adapters are available on amazon in Europe!!! Keepa sent me a notification.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B06WWLCYC3
https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00GLL41MA

LOL, there you go OP. Either of these will do the job for you.

[Scentle5S]

I must really have bad luck, or something else is going on, but both of your links show the adapters as currently unavailable (and I did try them two days ago, almost as soon as your posts)

[MartyMcNuts]

I must really have bad luck, or something else is going on, but both of your links show the adapters as currently unavailable (and I did try them two days ago, almost as soon as your posts)

Try this link.

https://www.amazon.fr/Unitek-Converter- ... ers&sr=1-1

[Scentle5S]

Thanks for the link, but that's more than twice the price of PrimoAngelo's we're starting to reach half the price of the drive itself, for a small PCB, connectors, and a bit of wire (sort of). At this price point I think I think I prefer to give the Inatek UA1001 a shot...

[PrimoAngelo]

Damn, they were available only a handful of hours. =(
For me Inatek UA1001 is working fine, I tried to reflash BH16NS55 back to Original 1.02 (DE) and dump a 4k BD.
Maybe this adapter may be add to the compatible list in the main post/main guide?

[Scentle5S]

I Just received my orders today (drive, adapter, and blurays). As promised, here is my feedback :

The Inatek UA1001 works fine with my ASUS BW-16D1HT. I was able to flash 3.10MK without any problems. I took inspiration from the video in the Ultimate UHD Drive Guide and from commands in this topic, since I'm running macOS (I also have a Boot Camp Windows 10 VM but I figured I might try the whole experience right from macOS, as all the tools I need are available for this OS). I ended up with the following commands :

Extract the latest sdf from MakeMKV :

Code: Select all

tar -xvf /Applications/MakeMKV.app/Contents/Resources/appdata.tar sdf_0000007a.bin

Get my drive's ID :

Code: Select all

/Applications/MakeMKV.app/Contents/MacOS/makemkvcon f -l

Flash the drive (replace "AAAAAAAAAAA" with the drive's S/N from previous command) :

Code: Select all

/Applications/MakeMKV.app/Contents/MacOS/makemkvcon f -d ASMedia_ASM105x_3.10_211901041014_AAAAAAAAAAA -f sdf_0000007a.bin rawflash main -i mk-firmware-pack-20200720/MK/ASUS/BW-16D1HT/ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.10-WM01601-211901041014.bin

I'm currently ripping my blurays and everything's going smoothly.

Thanks everyone for your help.