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Hey, I just bought a LG BU40N from Amazon. After Flashing the firmware I was able to rip 3-4 UHD discs, + 4-5 BR discs over 4 days (usually there is at least 20 min cool down period between rips).

Now the drive is starting to throw read errors on brand new UHD and BR discs. No scratches or smudges at all. Failure seems random. I pulled out an old lightly used 2021 Pioneer BDR-212UBK and it breezed through all discs with no issues. This is driving me crazy, you spend 100$ on a drive only to have it crap out after a few days?

I thought that BU40N was the only non junk LG drive? Seems like junk just like the other LG drives. Maybe I got a bad one?

Amazon only has third party sellers (same as Newegg) and LG themselves don't seem to sell directly (do they?). This drive came from Amazon seller and has a Date code of March 2024. Seems like its new but it has been re-boxed so who knows.

Is there a way I can see power on hours to know if the drive has been used already? Is there a diagnosis test?

Any way to get a drive straight from LG? Newegg, Staples, and Amazon are either reselling or out of stock, does anyone know of other stores in the US that sell these drives as new?

What is the newest build date that people have? I have March 24, anyone got a newer build date? Maybe they finally discontinued it this year?

boogiewoogie16787 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 6:41 am

Hey, I just bought a LG BU40N from Amazon. After Flashing the firmware I was able to rip 3-4 UHD discs, + 4-5 BR discs over 4 days (usually there is at least 20 min cool down period between rips).

Now the drive is starting to throw read errors on brand new UHD and BR discs. No scratches or smudges at all. Failure seems random. I pulled out an old lightly used 2021 Pioneer BDR-212UBK and it breezed through all discs with no issues. This is driving me crazy, you spend 100$ on a drive only to have it crap out after a few days?

I thought that BU40N was the only non junk LG drive? Seems like junk just like the other LG drives. Maybe I got a bad one?

Amazon only has third party sellers (same as Newegg) and LG themselves don't seem to sell directly (do they?). This drive came from Amazon seller and has a Date code of March 2024. Seems like its new but it has been re-boxed so who knows.

Is there a way I can see power on hours to know if the drive has been used already? Is there a diagnosis test?

Any way to get a drive straight from LG? Newegg, Staples, and Amazon are either reselling or out of stock, does anyone know of other stores in the US that sell these drives as new?

What is the newest build date that people have? I have March 24, anyone got a newer build date? Maybe they finally discontinued it this year?

Clean the discs. Wash with liquid soap and warm water. Dry with a paper towel. Then wipe the disc with a microfiber cloth as used to clean glasses. New discs use to have an invisible film that need to be removed.

Tried this as well, works sometimes but Im still looking to understand more about this drive. Seeing how well the Pioneer works im surprised people seem to be recommending this LG drive so much. Either I got a bad/used drive batch or this drive really is so weak thats its scared of its own shadow.

boogiewoogie16787 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 9:46 pm

Seeing how well the Pioneer works im surprised people seem to be recommending this LG drive so much.

Pioneer drives whose firmware is dated Dec 2022 or later cannot enable LibreDrive, effectively making them unusable for UHD unless someone can also obtain a working AACSv2 host certificate. Although "yes", Pioneer drives are more reliable readers of UHD disks.

Since your drive is relatively new, it is unlikely that the optics of your drive are dirty, but they might be. If you're willing to take the risk, you could gently clean them with isopropyl alcohol and dry them with a clean microfiber towel.

boogiewoogie16787 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 9:46 pm

Tried this as well, works sometimes but Im still looking to understand more about this drive. Seeing how well the Pioneer works im surprised people seem to be recommending this LG drive so much. Either I got a bad/used drive batch or this drive really is so weak thats its scared of its own shadow.

I'll preface this with I'm not trying to be argumentative at all here, but a few things:

Brand new doesn't necessarily mean better quality.

Also, the BU40N is recommended largely because of its availability. It's cheaper, too, and easier to update for MakeMKV.

Furthermore, you're comparing a full-height drive in the Pioneer BDR-212UBK versus a slimline HLDS BU40N. When I have discs that report read errors on my BU40N, I try them in my full-height WH16NS40 flashed with WH16NS60 1.03 MK firmware, and usually they are OK.

I buy a lot of used media. When I get read errors, I wash the discs with liquid soap and water and wipe the surface down with a specialized good small microfiber cloth. I don't use paper towels or bulk warehouse store microfiber towels because both seem to leave a lot of lint on the disc surface. I also always wash and wipe straight hub to outside, and never wipe in circles around the disc. Many people seem to not know this. Then I look for scratches. Sometimes the scratches are pretty deep or numerous in a particular spot or run parallel to the circle, and in that case, you are probably out of luck.

The BU40N drives I have are HP OEM versions of the drive flashed with 1.04 MK firmware manufactured between late 2018 and early 2019. I have never had a problem ripping any immaculate looking UHD BD/BD discs at any time; it's always discs with some sort of scratch on them.

We have a newer BU40N from 2021 and there were "read errors" on it, but it was due to something along the USB interface apparently, and after switching the cable out, it worked fine, so also check your interface connections, since sometimes jiggling cables might make it freak out.

dcoke22 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:11 pm

Since your drive is relatively new, it is unlikely that the optics of your drive are dirty, but they might be. If you're willing to take the risk, you could gently clean them with isopropyl alcohol and dry them with a clean microfiber towel.

I agree with this. I have an optical mouse and also a cat. If a cat hair gets stuck right on the sensor, the pointer won't move even though I'm waving the mouse around. The lens could be dirty with some lint that is not readily apparent, despite being brand new.

larhaus wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:18 pm

dcoke22 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:11 pm

Since your drive is relatively new, it is unlikely that the optics of your drive are dirty, but they might be. If you're willing to take the risk, you could gently clean them with isopropyl alcohol and dry them with a clean microfiber towel.

I agree with this. I have an optical mouse and also a cat. If a cat hair gets stuck right on the sensor, the pointer won't move even though I'm waving the mouse around. The lens could be dirty with some lint that is not readily apparent, despite being brand new.

Funny! The cat and mouse game... Clean your discs!

larhaus wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:13 pm

I'll preface this with I'm not trying to be argumentative at all here, but a few things:

Brand new doesn't necessarily mean better quality.

Also, the BU40N is recommended largely because of its availability. It's cheaper, too, and easier to update for MakeMKV.

Furthermore, you're comparing a full-height drive in the Pioneer BDR-212UBK versus a slimline HLDS BU40N. When I have discs that report read errors on my BU40N, I try them in my full-height WH16NS40 flashed with WH16NS60 1.03 MK firmware, and usually they are OK.

I buy a lot of used media. When I get read errors, I wash the discs with liquid soap and water and wipe the surface down with a specialized good small microfiber cloth. I don't use paper towels or bulk warehouse store microfiber towels because both seem to leave a lot of lint on the disc surface. I also always wash and wipe straight hub to outside, and never wipe in circles around the disc. Many people seem to not know this. Then I look for scratches. Sometimes the scratches are pretty deep or numerous in a particular spot or run parallel to the circle, and in that case, you are probably out of luck.

The BU40N drives I have are HP OEM versions of the drive flashed with 1.04 MK firmware manufactured between late 2018 and early 2019. I have never had a problem ripping any immaculate looking UHD BD/BD discs at any time; it's always discs with some sort of scratch on them.

We have a newer BU40N from 2021 and there were "read errors" on it, but it was due to something along the USB interface apparently, and after switching the cable out, it worked fine, so also check your interface connections, since sometimes jiggling cables might make it freak out.

Thanks for the info. Yes you are right, I am comparing a full height to a slim drive and thats probably not fair,I guess this bias came from a combination of praise people had on the forum for the BU40N as well as being burned by the LG WH16NS60 about two years ago when I last dabbled in this. My thinking was that slim vs full size wouldn't affect the ability to read a brand new disc so much.

"Also, the BU40N is recommended largely because of its availability. It's cheaper, too, and easier to update for MakeMKV."

Where are you finding these drives? Like I mentioned in my original post, Amazon/Newegg only sells through third party sellers so I have no idea if my drive is truly new or not and all other stores that LG lists on their site are out of stock/discontinued this drive.

Is there a place to buy the HP version of the drive as new? Buying new may not solve my problems but it eliminates a possible cause of issues (damage from a previous owner who may have abused the drive).

"I buy a lot of used media. When I get read errors, I wash the discs with liquid soap and water and wipe the surface down with a specialized good small microfiber cloth. I don't use paper towels or bulk warehouse store microfiber towels because both seem to leave a lot of lint on the disc surface. I also always wash and wipe straight hub to outside"

Yes I do the same, I used a spray I got off Amazon designed for cds and then also buy dedicated microfiber cloths (those very thin expensive kinds that are sold only a few sheets in a pack). There was a diagram I saw in the 90s that showed how to wipe from the center out so I try to do that (although over the years it always felt like this caused more scratches/ smudges that other methods, I still stuck with it)

Look, I tried to give the best possible conditions for this drive to evaluate it: brand new discs, run in a cold room in a real desktop so there is no power or thermal issues caused by USB enclosures, give it 20 minutes between discs.

Given all this and it still fails, at some point you have to wonder, is this format really just that bad or is the drive not operating as expected? I think given that I did all these precautions it might make sense to at least consider the idea that its the drive and not something im doing.

I appreciate all the info you have given me. Thank You.

dcoke22 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:11 pm

Since your drive is relatively new, it is unlikely that the optics of your drive are dirty, but they might be. If you're willing to take the risk, you could gently clean them with isopropyl alcohol and dry them with a clean microfiber towel.

Well I guess it can't get any worse can it? I am super careful when changing discs and do it slowly. Those slim trays are thinner and feel more fragile than full size trays. I dont want to risk damaging it further in case I need to return it but I will think about it and maybe i'll just risk it. Thanks for the suggestion.

boogiewoogie16787 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:26 am

"Also, the BU40N is recommended largely because of its availability. It's cheaper, too, and easier to update for MakeMKV."

Where are you finding these drives? Like I mentioned in my original post, Amazon/Newegg only sells through third party sellers so I have no idea if my drive is truly new or not and all other stores that LG lists on their site are out of stock/discontinued this drive.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. What I meant by "better availability" is that you can buy them on Amazon, Newegg, and eBay while still having the ability to flash them for LibreDrive. The WH16NS40 that I bought last year in November was manufactured June 2024 and I was able to flash it to WH16NS60 MK firmware. Works great.

But as mentioned in an earlier reply on the thread, you can't get the newer manufactured Pioneer drives that can enable LibreDrive with their firmware December 2022 or later.

So, if you instead bought a new Pioneer drive from one of those places, it might be too new to flash and essentially you would've bought a drive that won't do what you bought it for, which to me means Pioneer drives that can have LibreDrive enabled aren't very available.

The BU40N still shows up on LG's storage page along with the WH16NS40, and since the WH16NS40 I bought in November 2024 was manufactured a little less than 5 months prior, I would assume the BU40N is still being made. What you don't see is its cousin the BU50N, so if a drive isn't being made anymore, it probably won't show up on that page at all.

boogiewoogie16787 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:26 am

Is there a place to buy the HP version of the drive as new? Buying new may not solve my problems but it eliminates a possible cause of issues (damage from a previous owner who may have abused the drive).

I don't think HLDS is making them for HP anymore and probably stopped years ago, so they're all going to be used.

I also recently (late 2024) bought a new additional external slimline DVD drive to speed up the process of ripping my CDs, and when I took it apart, the drive was also manufactured in 2017. But it is a DVD drive, so maybe there was supply sitting around for all those years untouched in a warehouse somewhere.

I guess my point is that you can never really tell how much use an optical drive has. "New" could be manufactured in 2017 sitting unused in a warehouse for years; "used" could be hours and hours of operation from 2024. To circle back to your original question, to my knowledge, I don't think there's a way to tell how many hours an optical drive has been used, although it would be cool if there were some sort of SMART equivalent for optical drives like there is for hard drives.

boogiewoogie16787 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:26 am

Look, I tried to give the best possible conditions for this drive to evaluate it: brand new discs, run in a cold room in a real desktop so there is no power or thermal issues caused by USB enclosures, give it 20 minutes between discs.

Given all this and it still fails, at some point you have to wonder, is this format really just that bad or is the drive not operating as expected? I think given that I did all these precautions it might make sense to at least consider the idea that its the drive and not something im doing.

I agree. Maybe the drive did indeed go bad, then. Try to exchange?

boogiewoogie16787 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 09, 2025 3:26 am

I appreciate all the info you have given me. Thank You.

No problem. Happy to help!

Sorry you're having issues with the new slimline drive. I will say they do seem to be a bit more fickle than full-height drives. While I was writing this reply, I was backing up a UHD HD that had some minor scratches on it. Failed on the BU40N, succeeded on the WH16NS40. Then I unwrapped a brand new UHD BD movie and was able to back it up on the same BU40N successfully. It even read at 6.0x most of the way. Go figure.