What current UHD type drives are recommended retail?

[SastusBulbas]

Hi all, new member,

Currently building a new PC, but would like the option to get back into occasionally watching and copying movies on my PC again. I have a couple of bookshelves of dvd/bluray/UHD movies some of which are not on streaming services, and I am considering backing these up. Also going to be doing the same with my CD collection.

Sadly I am lost looking at 5.25 drives, I was about to spend £140 on the Asus BW-16D1H-U PRO external drive, but when looking at reviews some old stuff was mentioning it can't rip or play UHD? I was thinking maybe I could try an external and if it works well it opens up case choices. But to be honest, I want this new PC to be for archiving what optical media I currently own, and to maybe back up the family photo's to M-Disc if it's recommended.

Is there a shortlist of recommended external and internal drives for playing back and ripping DVD, BluRay and UHD movies onto PC? Is internal or external preferred? Is it difficult to set up these days?

New system is an AM5 7600x with an x870e MB and running just without a GPU or suitable case at the moment. I will be using NVMe for general stuff, but archiving/library will be on a pair of HGST 4tb HDD's for now. One thing I would like is the option to use this drive with Windows 11 and Ubuntu, as I am currently on Windows 10 but considering trying out Ubuntu as a Windows replacement.

I have no current media player/server set up for my current movies on the PC, and think I just want to redo it all. I last used MyMovies with Windows 7 streaming on Windows 7 Home Network between PC's.

My last two 5'25 drives were BluRay, one of the 1st Samsung models SH-B123 which from memory was acting up in a Media PC which was dismantled long ago, and the LG BH10 SL30? so doubt they are much use now and lack UHD support. Any software and drivers for these drives is long gone since various system changes, with the LG in a PC currently but just plugged in with W10 and no software.

I won't be choosing a case until I have a sollution to what drive I require.

[Billycar11]

I recommend the pioneer 212v or dbk if you can get them
Then just contact me for the auto flasher

[VA1DER]

Is there a shortlist of recommended external and internal drives for playing back and ripping DVD, BluRay and UHD movies onto PC? Is internal or external preferred? Is it difficult to set up these days?

I would recommend a 5.25", which will mostly mean internals.

My primary ripping is done on an LG WH16NS60. I ordered mine from this vendor on eBay and got an unencrypted LibreDrive enabled firmware on it that needed no flashing.

I use entirely Ventec NexStar DX2 enclosures with my drives. Great enclosure, and supports flashing and diagnostic modes (for drives that support that).

UHD playback is no longer "officially" possible, but is readily doable with any drive MakeMKV can rip with through VLC. In general it's recommended to rip and play the ripped file rather than continually play from the disc, but this is just really to save wear and tear.