UHD capable drive - UK based

Discussion of LibreDrive mode, compatible drives and firmwares
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Headbanger
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2024 5:52 am

UHD capable drive - UK based

Post by Headbanger » Fri Jan 16, 2026 12:41 pm

Could someone help confirm which drives are capable of UHD ripping and available in the UK please?

Having looked in the forums here to see what the current recommended drives are I was shocked to read that these drives are no longer being manufactured. My ASUS drive is failing leaving me with just one (much better) Pioneer BDR-212V and I would like to purchase a backup (or two!).

Apologies if I have missed the info posted already on here (there are many, many posts!!) but are there any drives still available in the UK that are UHD compatible (either out of the box or flashable)? Additionally, do I still need to watch the manf date / firmware versions or do the flashers now deal with that problem?

Thanks for any pointers!

HB

DennisOlof
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2025 5:59 pm

Re: UHD capable drive - UK based

Post by DennisOlof » Fri Jan 16, 2026 1:36 pm

As I was crawling on ebay a lot the last two days I have this information for you.

The Verbatim 43888 drive is on sale from a user called "ultrahd-drives" on ebay (UK) site. That drive is pre-patched and works for UHD ripping, looks like they are asking 275£ for a unit. This is external slim drive over USB. There are some 5.52 LG units you can find there as well. It seems possible to still find Pioneer BDR-XD drives, even though I suspect some listings probably are selling fake one.

There are people on for forum also selling hardware, go and have a look there.

Check ebay for LG, Asus as there are still drive out there. For now at least.

Headbanger
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2024 5:52 am

Re: UHD capable drive - UK based

Post by Headbanger » Fri Jan 16, 2026 2:12 pm

Thanks Dennis.

There are Verbatim 43888s available on various UK sites for around £100. Are these all flashable or only certain ones (manf date / firmware version)?
I looked here for a UK seller of a pre-configured drive but there only seems to be one https://shop.uhdfriendlydrives.co.uk/ and they seem to be closed atm.

Are any Pioneer drives now flashable if I find one? I've seen some Japanese BDR-S13J-X but old posts on here seem to suggest that they cannot be flashed. There are loads of Ebay listings for various Pioneers but I suspect most are selling fake, cloned drives.

Failing that, are all of the ASUS and LG drives now able to be flashed?

HB

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