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I have purchased the ASUS BW-16D1HT and it will be with me on Friday now this drive cost a pretty penny £89 kind of expensive so as not to brick it what would I need to be looking out for as regards to numbers and letters dates on the drive label that is attached to the outside of the drive.

The downgrade tool can that be used in windows or exclusively from a bootable usb unfortunately for me if I brick my drive then my bios is non-IDE compatible as it is too new so if I end up bricking my drive it is bricked permanently, the bin is the only place for it.

Finally, for reading my discs I was thinking of buying another ASUS BW-16D1HT or the LG-BH16NS40 again as above what do I need to see on the drive label for this to go smoothly. I know I am asking what other people have asked thousands of times before but rather buying a drive pre flashed I want to do this myself and I will be taking a big hit in the wallet every time I get it wrong so this is pretty serious stuff.

So far, no bricked drives as I have not started and my current drives are not ones that are compatible with flashing so at least they can be sold.

Anyway, I am looking for a nice knowledgeable individual that is prepared to help me out as I would love to be able to achieve this process and succeed.

I doubt I will receive many replies more than likely this post will go ignored much like a house alarm whaling no one ever takes notice but if you do I will be very appreciative to you for helping.

Thank you

As long as the ASUS comes with firmware 3.xx you can flash an MK firmware to it. Get the MK firmware from the LibreDrive section of the forum. And get Marty's SDF Tool to flash it. Done.

Ok thank you for that information I already have the MK firmware, & Marty's SDF Tool so as long as the ASUS BW-16D1HT has version firmware starting with 3.xx I am golden.

What would you advise as a rom drive obviously that would need cracked also any advice was going to go with a LG-BH16NS40 could I in theory use another ASUS BW-16D1HT or would that be a waste?

That's a matter of opinion, tbh. Drive quality has certainly suffered recently. Billy only sells the bu40 for a reason. However, if you want a desktop drive, the NS40 with NS50 svc code works well enough. The ASUS is fine. I personally only buy NS60 drives at this point, but, they are a bit more expensive.

You are very generous with coming forward to help I appreciate your input and is invaluable. Can I ask one more favour of you if I go with the lg bh16ns60, which is hard to find the LG BH16NS55 is better availability or the LG BH16NS40 is evry much available is there anything particular I have to look for regarding these drives as regards to compatibility for flashing what is it I need to look for I already know it has to be version 1.03 with svc code NS50 but what about thsoe other drives apart from teh SN40 what do I HAVE to look for as regards to the SN60 & SN55 is that correct and can you elaborate more on the process that would make me more certain and confident I will be able to flash the LG drive without bricking it followin the details already mentioned regards to the firmware, flash tool. I take it all these flash tools can be used in windows and not from a bootable USB windows based virtual drive.

As far as desktop drives are concerned, Asus BW-16D1HT, LG NS40 with service code NS50, LG NS50, and LG NS55 are all the same drive. LG NS60 is the same again, with the addition of the chipset for official UHD playback. Regardless, all of these drives will rip UHD BluRay discs when flashed with the appropriate firmware. The current recommendation is an NS60 MK firmware.

Personally, I have a BH16NS55 and a WH16NS60. I’ve thrown various firmware versions at them, but I’d say that in the cases where I’ve put the same firmware on both (e.g. WH16NS60 MK), they pretty much perform identically.

With that in mind, if you’re looking to get a second drive, it doesn’t really matter what you get. If it’s an Asus, ensure it’s a firmware 3.xx drive, as SamuraiHL has advised. If it’s an NS40 drive, check it has service code NS50. If it’s an NS50, NS55, or NS60, there’s nothing to really check.

Edit: To answer your questions about flash tools, they are now all Windows based (there are also Mac OS options).

icourt wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:29 pm

As far as desktop drives are concerned, Asus BW-16D1HT, LG NS40 with service code NS50, LG NS50, and LG NS55 are all the same drive. LG NS60 is the same again, with the addition of the chipset for official UHD playback. Regardless, all of these drives will rip UHD BluRay discs when flashed with the appropriate firmware. The current recommendation is an NS60 MK firmware.

Personally, I have a BH16NS55 and a WH16NS60. I’ve thrown various firmware versions at them, but I’d say that in the cases where I’ve put the same firmware on both (e.g. WH16NS60 MK), they pretty much perform identically.

With that in mind, if you’re looking to get a second drive, it doesn’t really matter what you get. If it’s an Asus, ensure it’s a firmware 3.xx drive, as SamuraiHL has advised. If it’s an NS40 drive, check it has service code NS50. If it’s an NS50, NS55, or NS60, there’s nothing to really check.

Hello

What do you mean and sorry for being totally stupid when you say (If it’s an NS40 drive, check it has service code NS50. If it’s an NS50, NS55, or NS60, there’s nothing to really check.) So I take it the SN50 NS55 & NS60 I dont have to look for those service codes so what about the rom version for thsoe drives does that matter and if it does would you know off hand what the rom version I should be looking for on thsoe individual drives to be safe in the knowledge I wont brick my blu ray drive in flashing with a wrong rom version. What about dates of manufacture. I think this is becoming more clear to me now that I have a wee bit of information but still a scary process for the absolute beginner. Anyway thank you for the reply much appreciated.

icourt pretty much summed it up perfectly. The only thing I'd add is that I recommend SDFTool to flash with, which will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. For Windows, MartyMcNuts made a nice UI for it to make flashing super simple. sdftool is made by Mike and is built into MakeMKV. It's the only tool I use to flash at this point.

BIGTOM221 wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:41 pm

What do you mean and sorry for being totally stupid when you say (If it’s an NS40 drive, check it has service code NS50. If it’s an NS50, NS55, or NS60, there’s nothing to really check.) So I take it the SN50 NS55 & NS60 I dont have to look for those service codes so what about the rom version for thsoe drives does that matter and if it does would you know off hand what the rom version I should be looking for on thsoe individual drives to be safe in the knowledge I wont brick my blu ray drive in flashing with a wrong rom version. What about dates of manufacture. I think this is becoming more clear to me now that I have a wee bit of information but still a scary process for the absolute beginner. Anyway thank you for the reply much appreciated.

The NS40 was 2 different drives. Those made pre-2015 are not compatible with UHD and flashing them with the post-2015 firmware will brick them. The NS50, NS55, and NS60 are all the proper chipset and can be flashed with pretty much any desktop firmware. The initial flash for those drives may matter, but, once an MK firmware is flashed to them, you can flash them to anything.

NS40 drives with a manufacturing date in 2015 and prior are the ‘old’ type, which you want to avoid.

The NS40 ‘new’ type will say on the label “Service Code: NS50” and will have a manufacture date in 2016 or later. The new NS40 drives are actually just NS50 drives rebadged as NS40. No, I’ve no idea why LG chose to do this. Maybe they had a load of NS40 boxes printed they needed to use up. It’s a mystery.

If you get an NS50, NS55, or NS60 drive, it will be flashable with MK firmware. There are no service codes or out of the box firmware versions to worry about with these, at least not at present. If you buy one of these now, it will be flashable with the current recommended flasher, SDFtool.

If you get a drive based on the advice above, give SDFtool a try. It should not be possible to brick any of the above drives with SDF tool. Just avoid the ‘old’ NS40!

icourt wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:10 pm

NS40 drives with a manufacturing date in 2015 and prior are the ‘old’ type, which you want to avoid.

The NS40 ‘new’ type will say on the label “Service Code: NS50” and will have a manufacture date in 2016 or later. The new NS40 drives are actually just NS50 drives rebadged as NS40. No, I’ve no idea why LG chose to do this. Maybe they had a load of NS40 boxes printed they needed to use up. It’s a mystery.

If you get an NS50, NS55, or NS60 drive, it will be flashable with MK firmware. There are no service codes or out of the box firmware versions to worry about with these, at least not at present. If you buy one of these now, it will be flashable with the current recommended flasher, SDFtool.

If you get a drive based on the advice above, give SDFtool a try. It should not be possible to brick any of the above drives with SDF tool. Just avoid the ‘old’ NS40!

Thank you very much that has cleared alot of loose corners and cleared the muddied waters. last question that SDFtool can I use the firmware files in the mk-firmware-pack-20200720 or are there specfic firmware files that work with the SDFtool? Is there a newer mk-firmware-pack available if so could you be kind enough to provide a link. Thank you all much appreciated.

icourt wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:10 pm

The NS40 ‘new’ type will say on the label “Service Code: NS50” and will have a manufacture date in 2016 or later.

The actual cut-over date was ~Oct 2015, so SOME 2015 drives will support UHD.

The best "tell" (IMO) is to observe what MakeMKV reports:

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS40
Revision: 1.03
Serial number: KLF--------
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 56

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959 (if it reports MT1939, the drive is too old)

IMPORTANT note: Verify this BEFORE attempting a flash. A 'bricked' drive will misreport this value.

d00zah wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:38 pm

icourt wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 08, 2020 9:10 pm

The NS40 ‘new’ type will say on the label “Service Code: NS50” and will have a manufacture date in 2016 or later.

The actual cut-over date was ~Oct 2015, so SOME 2015 drives will support UHD.

The best "tell" (IMO) is to observe what MakeMKV reports:

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS40
Revision: 1.03
Serial number: KLF--------
Firmware date: 2117-04-25 17:56
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 56

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959 (if it reports MT1939, the drive is too old)

Thank you yes I can understand that perfectly well all goood pointers indeed will certainly be trying all this out when I flash my two blu ray drives when they arrive for the sole purpose of UHD content.

Hello good people.

My ASUS BW-161HT arrived very late this evening by the courier guy. Anyway installed it into the computer I double checked what everyone has posted here in this thread and it worked fantastically I cant believe it so I am forever grateful to all you good people who replied to my post thank you guys I could never have achieved this without you.

My LG BH16NS55 arrives next week sometime got it for £50 brand new with £5 postge from France not bad.

Roll of honour respectfully thanked for replying.

d00zah

icourt

SamuriHL

Result! Glad you’re happy mate.