Hi, first post here. I was thinking about getting a preflashed LG WH16NS60 internal drive. In the past I've always gone for fast drives (for CD, DVD, BD over the years) and then usually rip at a bit less than max to prolong the life of the drive. It's a system that's worked for me.
There's at least one prominent poster who feels that pretty much any drive except the BU40N is unreliable for UHD ripping. Just wondered what others think of this. The BU40N looks OK but it is slower, and I've seen some reviews that say it runs pretty hot. It's also slim and I have an old school PC with full size bays. None of these things are insurmountable, if the consensus is that BU40N is best, I can make it work and would probably just stick with external. Just wondering if there are others who would agree they've had problems with pretty much any other drive.
Thoughts on BU40N vs other drives?
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Toscaclarinet
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2023 7:18 pm
Re: Thoughts on BU40N vs other drives?
I have an ASUS BW-16D1HT, a BU40N and a Pioneer 211EBK. For ripping the ASUS is fine 95% of the time, I have occasionally had discs that the ASUS cannot read at all or rips with errors. However it definitely struggles watching films on my PC, particularly around layer transitions, I would guess around half my discs I have been unable to watch straight through to the end without freezing.
I have had no issues at all either ripping or watching films on either the BU40N or the Pioneer. Have not noticed particular heat issues with the BU40N but it is loud and that does make it difficult to watch films with it, even trying to muffle it. The Pioneer can go in my desktop and is much quieter, so I would say that the Pioneer is my best performing drive overall.
I have had no issues at all either ripping or watching films on either the BU40N or the Pioneer. Have not noticed particular heat issues with the BU40N but it is loud and that does make it difficult to watch films with it, even trying to muffle it. The Pioneer can go in my desktop and is much quieter, so I would say that the Pioneer is my best performing drive overall.
Re: Thoughts on BU40N vs other drives?
The story, as I understand it, with the ASUS and LG drives (not the BU40N) is that their quality has suffered in this post-pandemic supply-chain constrained world. I happen to have both an ASUS BW-16D1HT and a LG WH16NS60. I've had them since before COVID and they've been fine for me. I also have a more modern Pioneer BDR-212UBK which has also worked well.
I'd guess the consensus at the moment is if you're only going to have 1 drive, a Pioneer is the best choice. Unfortunately, you'd have to buy one from a seller here on the forum, since Pioneer released an updated firmware at the end of 2022 explicitly for the purpose of making the drives incompatible with MakeMKV. There's an experimental way to flash an older, compatible firmware onto the drives, but that flasher is not yet public.
I think the LG BU40N is still also a good choice. I haven't seen any posts to suggest otherwise.
If you buy a LG WH16NS60 (or any of the other LG/ASUS drives) on your own, the recommendation is to buy it from a place with a generous return policy. The initial failure rate on these drives lately is relatively high. If you buy one from a seller here on the forums, they generally test every drive before they sell it, so the drive should work out of the box. I do not know what their long term reliability is at the moment.
I'd guess the consensus at the moment is if you're only going to have 1 drive, a Pioneer is the best choice. Unfortunately, you'd have to buy one from a seller here on the forum, since Pioneer released an updated firmware at the end of 2022 explicitly for the purpose of making the drives incompatible with MakeMKV. There's an experimental way to flash an older, compatible firmware onto the drives, but that flasher is not yet public.
I think the LG BU40N is still also a good choice. I haven't seen any posts to suggest otherwise.
If you buy a LG WH16NS60 (or any of the other LG/ASUS drives) on your own, the recommendation is to buy it from a place with a generous return policy. The initial failure rate on these drives lately is relatively high. If you buy one from a seller here on the forums, they generally test every drive before they sell it, so the drive should work out of the box. I do not know what their long term reliability is at the moment.