Chris Kelly wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:51 pmMy three Vantec 540s arrived yesterday. For someone with limited eyesight who uses screen readers and reads Braille, it took me a total of three hours and twenty-eight minutes to get all three drives installed and assemble the enclosures. I ddecided to use one USB cable and power supply and connect them to whatever drive I want to use because using three USB cables and three power supplies was making my work area messy. But if the power input jack and USB port on each enclosure is too fragile for swapping, I'd learn to deal with the mess. When using the latest version of the modified ASUS flasher, I was able to flash my LG WH16NS60 from the ASUS BW-16D1H-T 3.10 MK back to LG WH16NS60 1.03 MK. Speaking of MK firmware: I understand MakeMKV now works with Pioneer drives which don't require modified firmware. Any plans for MakeMKV to work with unmodified firmware?Chris Kelly wrote: ↑Fri Apr 22, 2022 6:18 pmIt looks like this will be hit-or-miss. I asked Vantec about this and here's what they explained to me. I thought you might find it helpful.
"Hi Chris,
Thanks for asking.
Sorry, we do not know.
Let me explain, in a normal setup, these SATA optical drives installed into a system are connected to a SATA port directly, the optical drive manufacturer engineer test update, and design the firmware update program to write directly to the drive via SATA command.
Now the SATA optical drive is connected to a bridge chipset on the enclosure (just FYI, ALL USB storage that connects to a SATA device is using a bridge chipset between them). The bridge chipset sits and translates all the USB commands and SATA commands between the system and the SATA optical drive. This is another layer of “passing the command and data”.
Whoever the engineer that wrote the firmware program, if they follow and stay within the SATA command set, it will work. If they write outside the SATA command set (write directly to the optical drive using microcode), the bridge chipset may not be able to translate the command resulting in not being able to update the firmware.
I see these issues all the time in earlier days of firmware update software, but it is getting better and now. The only way is to try it out. If you have it connected and run the update software, and it can see the drive correctly, it should be fine.
Another wrinkle that can happen is the design of the bridge chipset, there are many models of the bridge chipset and need the right combination. No one has gone thru this process of screening every optical drive and chipset combination to test firmware update capability.
In answering your question, our enclosure does have a serial number that tracks the batch and I am not sure it can support optical drive firmware update until you try.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask and we will do our best to answer them.
Regards,
Technical Support
Vantec Thermal Technologies
Tel: 510-668-0368
Fax: 510-668-0367
www.vantecusa.com
From: Chris Kelly [mailto:chriskfromnj@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2022 8:42 AM
To: support@vantecusa.com
Subject: Question about NST-540S3-BK
Hello, I have questions about NST-540S3-BK
I have three drives. So I ordered three of these enclosures from Amazon a few days ago, and you guys happen to be the seller. I understand there is inconsistency from unit to unit as far as which units allow drive firmware upgrading and which ones don’t once the drive is installed in the enclosure. My enclosures haven’t arrived yet. Before I install the three drives, is there a manufacturing date or serial number which would determine which units will and will not support optical drive firmware upgrading?
Chris Kelly
"
Well, now that AnyDVDHD uses MakeMKV to make it compatible with my LG WH16NS60, I plan on flashing it from ASUS BW-16d1H-T 3.10 MK firmware back to WH16NS60 1.03 MK as soon as my enclosures arrive. So wish me luck.
You could still use all 3 cables, just cable tie them together to help with the clutter.
Only Pioneer UHD drive models are compatible and there are no firmware changes required.
Also, MakeMKV does work with unmodified ASUS/LG firmware. Just look at all the available "DE" firmware versions ie: ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.02, BH16NS55 1.02 WH16NS60 1.00 etc....