Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[baneling]

If it is a new disc, can you return it for a replacement? Just tell them it is defective as it is slightly warped causing scraping noises during playback.

It's from the library

ripping used discs that are damaged is a no no.
warped, stickers that unbalance it, scratches its a good way to kill a drive.

What if the disc is not warped at all, just has some little scratches on it and the optical drive has issues reading it. Can that still affect the drive?

[Billycar11]

It's from the library

ripping used discs that are damaged is a no no.
warped, stickers that unbalance it, scratches its a good way to kill a drive.

What if the disc is not warped at all, just has some little scratches on it and the optical drive has issues reading it. Can that still affect the drive?

yes some drives do dumb thing like move the read head closer and closer and then it hits the disc ruining the disc and drive as the lens on the lg/asus is plastic so plastic on plastic scratches and both a ruined.

[baneling]

[/quote]
yes some drives do dumb thing like move the read head closer and closer and then it hits the disc
[/quote]

and this can happen cause of scratches on the disc?

[Billycar11]

yes some drives do dumb thing like move the read head closer and closer and then it hits the disc


and this can happen cause of scratches on the disc?

yes and also if the drive is not getting enough power
it is very rare though

[paulaosp]

my friends, all right, hugs from brazil, I need to try with my drive, it is mt 1939 firmware 1.03 whs40 lg, is there a way to read uhd?

[Coopervid]

my friends, all right, hugs from brazil, I need to try with my drive, it is mt 1939 firmware 1.03 whs40 lg, is there a way to read uhd?

No. MT1939 can't handle UHDs.

[patricia-p]

I purchased a secondhand BU20N drive which was on fw BU24 and I flashed HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.03-NM00000-211810241934

This was because I thought it was a BU40N, so now it is not loaded and isnt operating.

Is it possible to recover it when the manufacturer doesn't have a firmware on the website?

Before flash
Drive Information
OS device name: D:
Manufacturer: hp
Product: BD-RE BU20N
Revision: BU24
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2115-04-22 13:44
Bus encryption flags: 1F

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 0.BU24P
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

After flash
Drive Information
OS device name: D:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU40N
Revision: 1.03
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2118-10-24 19:34
Bus encryption flags: 17

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 1.03
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

My laptop
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20GHz, 2195 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date LENOVO J5ET64WW (1.35 ), 31/10/2019
System SKU LENOVO_MT_20DF_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad E550
PNP Device ID SCSI\CDROM&VEN_HL-DT-ST&PROD_BD-RE_BU40N\4&6C073B4&0&010000
Name HL-DT-ST BD-RE BU40N

[Billycar11]

It's possible to recover if you can find bu20 fw and can use dos flash on your pc

[patricia-p]

It's possible to recover if you can find bu20 fw and can use dos flash on your pc

Thanks that gives me hope it's worth trying.

I found firmware CDROM.inf.amd64 for bu20n but win10 device manager rejected it.

Is dos flash the same as command prompt? Or is it 3rd party program?

[Chipless]

Well, after several years of faithful service, I finally managed to kill my MSI UHD drive today. So, which drive is currently the easiest to obtain and easiest to flash for UHD compatibility?

[Billycar11]

Well, after several years of faithful service, I finally managed to kill my MSI UHD drive today. So, which drive is currently the easiest to obtain and easiest to flash for UHD compatibility?

easiest is to buy a Pioneer flashed from one of us

other wise any of the lg /asus drives in the guide is the same difficulty to flash

[asmcom]

Well, after several years of faithful service, I finally managed to kill my MSI UHD drive today. So, which drive is currently the easiest to obtain and easiest to flash for UHD compatibility?

Hi Chipless,

Please see our MakeMKV sellers page with a list of drives and our email address.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19387

Asmcom

[asmcom]

i mean my opinion is avoid all LG/Asus 5.25 desktop drives my fail rate was so high on those i had to stop selling them.
the pioneers are the best by far
the BU40N BP50/60 are not bad they are also faster than the pioneers.
but if your buying from a seller they are cherry picking the drive for as it will be tested so buy whatever you want then.

Well said Billycar11 and you are on the button.

Asmcom

I wanted to buy drive(s) from you, sadly your shop is not active.

However I found used ASUS BW-16D1HT with OWC Mercury Pro enclosure nearby for 125€ incl. shipping. "FW 3.10, bought on Christmas 2021 and selling it because after 5 rips I had no use for it and it was catching dust".
Or another drive I found is Hitachi BH16NS55 for 45€ (without enclosure) with not as much info about it as the aforementioned ASUS.
However, is this true? -> viewtopic.php?f=16&t=27725&p=120319#:~: ... er%20break I was thinking of using BR or M-DISC as a cold storage for family photos and such.
If I get burned by the used ASUS I found nearby, I will most likely get the next one from you.
And even if it will work I'll probably stop by for 2nd drive.

Enjoy your vacation! (I presume, 'cuz summer)

PS: I didn't just ignore your heads-up Billycar11 about the fail rate. However I can't get my hands on BU40N BP50/60 and Pioneer is so much more expensive here.

We are supplying every day from our seller page on MakeMKV.

viewtopic.php?t=19387

Asmcom

[Exponent]

I just wanted to drop in and say that I bought a pre-flashed Pioneer XS07S from Billycar11 a month ago or so.
The immediate reply and customer service from Billy was great!
The Pioneer XS07S drive also works fine. I used it heavily about 3 weeks ago, and it held up well.
That's my report - I can highly recommend working with Billy to back up your valuable UHD disks.

[KidJoe]

Unfortunately with 1.02MK, Passkey complains that the drive isn't compatible. Searching, it appears 1.00DE would work for both MakeMKV and Passkey.

What are the differences between 1.00DE and 1.02MK? Should I be concerned about read errors happening again if I flash to 1.00DE?

Here is why I ask:

I have a WH16NS40 (NS50 label) that I had flashed long ago when a plain SATA (Non-AHCI) controller was needed. I don't recall what firmware that was. BUT the drive worked with both MakeMKV and DVDFab Passkey.

Trying to rip with MakeMKV, I had re-errors once in a while in the past. Passkey was worse with lots of retries but eventually read the discs. The latest issue was with brand new Avatar Way of Water 4K disc, there were 3 .m2ts files MakeMKV reported errors with which caused the rip to fail. So I decided to flash to the 1.02MK firmware to see if that helps. It did. With 1.02MK MakeMKV ripped the entire movie. The 3 .m2ts that errored with the older firmware read just fine with MakeMKV and the newly flashed 1.02MK firmware. The resulting MKV plays fine.

Since flashing to 1.02MK, I have tried re-ripping several times, and it continues to work without error. So it does appear that 1.02MK helped.

Prior to flashing 1.02MK, I did try cleaning the disc with soapy water and microfiber cloth. Powering the PC off, waiting a little then turning it on. Ejecting and re-inserting, etc.