Multiple BR/UHD Drives Have Failed In Less Than A Week

[robertoleonardo]

Hi - I just started the process of digitizing my dvd/blu ray library. Thanks everyone here for all the information. But i keep hitting a wall with blu rays and uhds -- i've now had two drives fail (ostensibly, unless there's an alternative explanation) within days of use and after ripping only 25-30 blu rays and uhds.

I first purchased BH16NS40 and downgraded the firmware. Worked fine for a few blurays and uhds, and then after only a day or so, it stopped reading blu rays and UHDs altogether. Still reads DVDs fine.

I came on the forums after the first time and saw some similar issues. Consensus was those issues were likely due to a failed drive. So i sucked it up and bought the second drive --- a WH16NS60 on v1 firmware.

The NS60 worked great for 5 days -- ripped about 20 blu rays and 5-6 uhds (and probably 30-40 dvds). But just now: same. exact. thing. it just stopped reading br/uhd (after it failed to rip a UHD disc). again, dvds still work fine.

i get the logic behind people thinking these issues are product of a failed drive...but is that really the only explanation? I suppose it is possible, but it seems extremely unlikely that i had two defective drives that died after mere days. I haven't yet taken them apart and cleaned the laser -- i will try that, but im not optimistic. hard to imagine how a laser could have gotten so dirty in that short a period that that's what the issue is. plus it was humming along perfectly until i put in a new disc, then suddenly it was completely dead. seems likely there would've been signs of a dirty laser before failing completely.

really hoping i don't have to buy a third drive...at this point, i'd almost have been better off just re-purchasing digital versions of everything.

appreciate any ideas anyone has.

[dcoke22]

That sucks if it really is two failed drives in short order.

Have you tried power cycling the drives? Powering off the drive and powering it up again is the only way to restart the tiny computer that's running the drive's firmware.

Trying to clean the laser might help, as you suggested.

Finally, this forum has a list of sellers that sell pre-flashed and tested drives. I won't speak for them, but I'd guess if you got a drive from one of them that failed so quickly, they'd help you out.

[robertoleonardo]

yea definitely have tried to power cycle. weird thing is, one of them kind of came back. sort of. but it's super finicky now. and this is the ns60 -- which generally seems to be the go-to around here. it's definitely not working as it should, even though it's not TOTALLY unable to read blu rays like the ns40 is. the ns60 will now rip a single blu ray, if i'm lucky, but then i have to go through a whole ritual dance of unplugging it and plugging it back in like 5 times. sometimes i have to fully uninstall from device manager and reboot, before it'll let me rip another blu ray. sometimes even that doens't do the trick, and i just switch it off for a day and come bakc later and it'll let me rip 1 blu ray (and then issues start over again). but even as to that one that is quasi functional again, i've yet to successfully get all the way through a uhd rip with that one. when it manages to even start ripping a UHD, inevitably it fails partway through. and most times i can't even get it to recognize or start ripping a uhd.

other thing i noticed is both of them died (one of them fully; one of them mostly) after an unsuccessful rip of LOTR Fellowship of the Rings UHD Extended Edition -- i got the aacs revoked error. Which is odd because (1) i know that disc has given people issues in the past, but it seemed from the forums like people were finally having success (2) even if i can't rip that one disc, doesn't seem like it should've permanently screwed up my two drives. so i'm still not convinced the conspiracy theories--that studios figured out a way to break a drive if it recognizes ripping happening--don't have some truth to them.

i actually did buy from a guy on ebay and he's been super helpful. he offered to send me another one if i send this back. i may still do that -- he and i have been in communication while i've been experimenting cause we're both flummoxed. but ultimately, i prob won't send it back -- he's just a dude trying to make some cash. he doesn't owe me customer support or a return policy (though i do very much appreciate that he has offered). it sucks for me but i consider it just a cost of doing nerd business. i'll live

i ended up just getting a THIRD drive -- this time i went with pioneer. so far, so good. it sucks to have 3 fancy blu ray drives -- 1 which actually works, 1 which is like 30% functional, and one which can only read dvds. but it is what it is. worse things have happened. thanks for your thoughts!

[dcoke22]

Hopefully the Pioneer keeps working. Have you tried taking the case apart and cleaning the laser on the ns40?

[robertoleonardo]

i started to take it apart the other day but i couldn't figure out how to pop it out of its little shell and didn't have time to go down that rabbit hole anyway. i do intend to give that a try soon once i consult some youtube vids.

that said, the ns40 is the one that seems the most dead. it hasn't recognized a blu ray since like day 2 of owning it (two weeks ago). so that one i totally buy that there's just a defective br laser that gave our on day 2

the ns60 is the one that clearly still has a br laser that works at least intermittently. something's still wonky about it. but it's not all the way gone. so i'm going to start with that one when i get around to fully disassembling.

i got bold today and tried ripping the lotr uhds with the pioneer today -- success! tho this type i didn't decrypt them before trying to back up to folder. on the others i had the decrypt box selected when they broke. so i guess j still don't know if that's part of the issue, but silver lining is i do at least now have successfully ripped lotr extended edition uhds woot. and approximately 1 tb less of storage space....

[dcoke22]

that said, the ns40 is the one that seems the most dead. it hasn't recognized a blu ray since like day 2 of owning it (two weeks ago). so that one i totally buy that there's just a defective br laser that gave our on day 2

If the ns40 is only two weeks old, can you just return it? Maybe that's the one you got from eBay.

i got bold today and tried ripping the lotr uhds with the pioneer today -- success! tho this type i didn't decrypt them before trying to back up to folder. on the others i had the decrypt box selected when they broke. so i guess j still don't know if that's part of the issue, but silver lining is i do at least now have successfully ripped lotr extended edition uhds woot. and approximately 1 tb less of storage space....

My workflow is to first make a decrypted backup of a disc, then make .mkv files from the backup. The decryption shouldn't have anything to do with getting the bytes off the plastic disc. In the case of a UHD, it only depends on if the decryption key exists and has been downloaded or not.

[robertoleonardo]

i got the 40 on amazon. i guess i assumed this was a jailbroken iphone situation and they wouldn't take it since i messed with firmware. in any event, i bought it inside the owc mercury enclosure, which i quite like, so i don't feel like returning that as well only to buy a new one. i'll just eat the 70 or whatever bc lazy.

though interesting development -- i got the 40 all the way opened up just now (VERY clever design with the whole cd tray as the mechanism that locks it in place. i was delighted when i realized how it works).

1) i of course sliced off the end of my finger on the stupid metal part. i assume that is just a rite of passage as it was amazingly easy to do

2) the actual relephant part -- so given that this one seemed totally kia, i fully expected the blu ray laser to be totally dead. surprisingly, it seemed to be alive and well. i cleaned it off and put it back together and ....
..
......
....
...
...still doesn't work hahah. i could be imagining it but i THNK the drive seems to be working harder to read blu ray than it had been previously. but the end result is the same -- it tries for a minute and then eventually just tells me no disc.

now that i know the laser is working, and that it's clean -- any new suggestions? at this point i am just curious and don't have any expectation i'll actually get it working. but i like to tinker so why not. it's also pretty much useless to me reading only dvds, as i finished ripping all mine and i don't imagine i'll ever buy another old school dvd. so point is -- i really don't care if i break the drive altogether. so if there are any more invasive, riskier surgeries i could try -- no real harm in giving it a go.

oh and regarding your workflow -- yea that's what i've settled on. bonus points bc it is immensely satisfying to see how fast an mkv is created from ab folder on an nvme drive be direct form a disc. tho, for those lord of the rings disks that i finally successfully ripped on the pioneer, i did an encrypted backup, created an iso, then usd any dvd to decrypt so now i have a functional (minus menus) iso+mkv of the main video file. added a few steps that way but i was too afraid i was going to break a third drive doing the more direct decrypted backup route. i'm sure you're right that it shouldn't be related. but both of my other drives started acting up / totally failing from immediately after a botched attempt to rip that disk so i wanted to play it safe.

[Coopervid]

Maybe it gets too less power via USB.

Attach it to SATA and try first a BD and then an UHD. If this works reassemble it into the OWC Mercury and try different USB ports, better use an active hub with its own power supply.

[robertoleonardo]

yea that's a great idea. i had gone halfway there and currently have it plugged in through vantec's sata adapter (rather than the enclosure itself), thouhg i suppose that might as well be the same thing as just plugging in to enclosure because it's still sata -- > usb. i have not yet actually opened up my computer case and plugged directly into sata that way -- when i reemeerge from the glass cage of emotion that is my job right now, i am for sure going to give that a try. i also have a vantec enclosure that the 60 is in right now. that's the one that is quasi working. i might switch them around if i can't get around to the actual connecting it to sata idea soon. if suddenly the 40 starts quasi working, i guess we'll know the issue.

thanks folks for all the ideas. you guys are great.

(also, yea, -- you're absolutely right that things seem to go better (in my halfway working ) if i do a blu ray before going all the way to blu ray. but do we have any idea why that is? does the drive just need to stretch a bit, get the blood flowing or whta? it just seems so random, but i totally agree that it seems to help.

[Coopervid]

Some USB-> SATA adapters don't work well with optical drives. If SATA directly doesn't work you are sure that it is clearly the drive being faulty and nothing else.

[dcoke22]

I have two drives in OWC Mercury enclosures. They're powered enclosures, so they're probably getting plenty of power.

As far as I'm aware, Amazon won't care that you've changed the firmware. They're not going to check.

[Billycar11]

I have two drives in OWC Mercury enclosures. They're powered enclosures, so they're probably getting plenty of power.

As far as I'm aware, Amazon won't care that you've changed the firmware. They're not going to check.

exactly this i have returned 100's of defective drives never once flashed it back always got a refund/ exchange no issue

[robertoleonardo]

okay noted, then in that case - yea will send it back. also i started typing 'what?! how have you had 100s of drives to return?!' and then i saw your name

thanks everyone for the input -- i think i just got super unlucky to have 1 immediately go bad and another to start limping a few days later. such is life!

appreciate you all.