My current LG Slim DVD /BluRay writer (BP50NB40) has done a pretty great job (and lots of mileage).
I'm looking for a new external unit but hoping for longer USB leads as this only came with a short split cable (50cm) that means I have to rest it with bluetac on top of my monitor due to having a wall mounted PC. I'd tried extending the lead but the drive failed, also tried a powered USB hub but that didn't work either so really need a manufacturer approved out-of-the-box long lead solution (at least 1m but anything over 1.2m would be amazing).
I rip both DVD and Blu-Ray and while it would be nice to have write features it's not something I do a lot of these days now that USB drives are so cheap.
Any recommendations please?
I live in the UK.
Many thanks
Dal
New drive
Re: New drive
Not sure if I've posted this in the correct section and just to be clear, I did look through the LibreDrive drives posts but there seems to be a heavy direction towards issues and what not to buy rather than a clear list of what is good unless I missed a sticky post or something
Re: New drive
Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2022
The first post there is kept up to date. The top of post has a list of all the drives that can work with LibreDrive to let MakeMKV rip everything, including 4K UHD discs. Generally, this forum would recommend getting one on that list, even if you don't think you want to rip UHD discs now. The Pioneer drives are recently supported and don't require any firmware flashing, but they've only been supported for a few weeks, so there is probably still some bugs to be worked out. The LG (even other branded drives have a LG drive in them) drives have been supported for a long time and are well understood, but they require firmware flashing.
There are sellers on this forum that will flash and test a drive for you. Their prices are slightly above what you might be able to buy the drive for on its own, but they take all the hassle out of flashing the firmware and test the drive before shipping it to you.
If you want to burn discs, Pioneer drives are considered the best at burning.
If you want to use the drive with other ripping applications in addition to MakeMKV, there are sometimes specific firmware levels you need to get to make that happen.
A desktop drive in a powered external enclosure will let you use a standard USB 3 cable of just about any reasonable length. The power will come from a separate wall-wart plug.
Finally, no one drive will be perfect. If you get deep into ripping a large collection of movies, you'll find multiple drives can be helpful. Personally, I'm up to three drives. Some discs that don't work in drive A will work just fine in drive B.
The first post there is kept up to date. The top of post has a list of all the drives that can work with LibreDrive to let MakeMKV rip everything, including 4K UHD discs. Generally, this forum would recommend getting one on that list, even if you don't think you want to rip UHD discs now. The Pioneer drives are recently supported and don't require any firmware flashing, but they've only been supported for a few weeks, so there is probably still some bugs to be worked out. The LG (even other branded drives have a LG drive in them) drives have been supported for a long time and are well understood, but they require firmware flashing.
There are sellers on this forum that will flash and test a drive for you. Their prices are slightly above what you might be able to buy the drive for on its own, but they take all the hassle out of flashing the firmware and test the drive before shipping it to you.
If you want to burn discs, Pioneer drives are considered the best at burning.
If you want to use the drive with other ripping applications in addition to MakeMKV, there are sometimes specific firmware levels you need to get to make that happen.
A desktop drive in a powered external enclosure will let you use a standard USB 3 cable of just about any reasonable length. The power will come from a separate wall-wart plug.
Finally, no one drive will be perfect. If you get deep into ripping a large collection of movies, you'll find multiple drives can be helpful. Personally, I'm up to three drives. Some discs that don't work in drive A will work just fine in drive B.
Re: New drive
Thanks dcoke22
I was starting to wonder if I'd asked a stupid question and ended going down a rabbit hole of debugging the drives current strange behaviour.
All of that information is extremely helpful to me as I've been kind of lucky to not have had too much bother with ripping my collection. If I had to put a number on it I would say that 2% of discs couldn't be ripped at all by this drive and I've needed to use my old laptop which was able to pick up on 99% of them.. think I have 1 or possibly 2 discs that wouldn't budge with 1 having clear damage.
I've also in a good place as I've managed to rip my entire 3k+ discs (took me over a year) which are now safely backed up on my Plex server for my viewing pleasure. This drive has done some miles!
It's also helpful to know there's people selling checked drives here
Thanks again, that answer was awesome!
I was starting to wonder if I'd asked a stupid question and ended going down a rabbit hole of debugging the drives current strange behaviour.
All of that information is extremely helpful to me as I've been kind of lucky to not have had too much bother with ripping my collection. If I had to put a number on it I would say that 2% of discs couldn't be ripped at all by this drive and I've needed to use my old laptop which was able to pick up on 99% of them.. think I have 1 or possibly 2 discs that wouldn't budge with 1 having clear damage.
I've also in a good place as I've managed to rip my entire 3k+ discs (took me over a year) which are now safely backed up on my Plex server for my viewing pleasure. This drive has done some miles!
It's also helpful to know there's people selling checked drives here
Thanks again, that answer was awesome!