Clarification on what these drives can do

[VideoVoodoo]

I'm a complete newbie to all this, and so I'm worried that I'm missing something that is obvious to everyone else on this site or that I'm assuming these drives can do more than they actually can. So I'd really appreciate if someone could just confirm the following about pre-flashed drives, or point out which of these assumptions I have wrong, before I buy a drive from anyone.


All pre-flashed drives sold here can:

1. Play any region CD albums, and DVD/BR/4K-BR movies, directly on my PC

2. Read blank CDs/DVDs/BRs (including the 100Gb M Disc) that I use as storage media, and allow me to copy files to them

3. Rip any region CDs/DVDs/BRs/4K-BRs to my PC, into both video files (ie. MKV) and disc image files (ie. ISO)

4. Rip any region video game that comes in CD/DVD/BR/4K-BR format (ie. PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4/PS5) to my PC into disc image files (ie. ISO)

5. Burn ISO files to blank CDs/DVDs/BRs (so that I'd be able to create backup discs of my games/CDs/DVDs/BRs/4K-BRs, and so that they would work in a regular CD/DVD/BR/4K-BR player, or on a games console modded to play burned games)


Am I also right in assuming that they aren't reliant on the MakeMKV software continuing to be supported? That once I have the software installed on my PC, I'll be able to continue to use the drive forever to play/rip/burn, even if MakeMKV is ever abandoned?

Thank you for reading.

[dcoke22]

1. Play any region CD albums, and DVD/BR/4K-BR movies, directly on my PC

Playing 4K UHDs on a PC directly from a disc is generally only possible by integrating MakeMKV with VLC and playing it that way. There is no longer any official way to play 4K UHDs on a PC.

2. Read blank CDs/DVDs/BRs (including the 100Gb M Disc) that I use as storage media, and allow me to copy files to them

I don't know if all drives that MakeMKV supports also support M-Disc. But if the drive supports M-Disc, it should work. Pioneer drives are considered the best for burning.

3. Rip any region CDs/DVDs/BRs/4K-BRs to my PC, into both video files (ie. MKV) and disc image files (ie. ISO)

With the exception of DVDs, MakeMKV doesn't output into .iso format. MakeMKV also doesn't rip audio CDs. If you have other software that does these functions, there's no reason to think it wouldn't work with any drives sold by the sellers here.

4. Rip any region video game that comes in CD/DVD/BR/4K-BR format (ie. PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4/PS5) to my PC into disc image files (ie. ISO)

MakeMKV doesn't rip PlayStation discs. There are some drives that can rip both PlayStation discs and movies, but not all. I think Pioneer drives can not be used for ripping game discs.

5. Burn ISO files to blank CDs/DVDs/BRs (so that I'd be able to create backup discs of my games/CDs/DVDs/BRs/4K-BRs, and so that they would work in a regular CD/DVD/BR/4K-BR player, or on a games console modded to play burned games)

Pioneer drives are considered the best for burning.

Am I also right in assuming that they aren't reliant on the MakeMKV software continuing to be supported? That once I have the software installed on my PC, I'll be able to continue to use the drive forever to play/rip/burn, even if MakeMKV is ever abandoned?

The drive isn't necessarily dependent on continuing support from MakeMKV. If you buy a license for MakeMKV, then MakeMKV will generally continue to work with the need for an updated beta key every couple of months.

[VideoVoodoo]

Thank you for answering!

Ok, I understand the abilities of these drives better now. For the types of disc that these drives are able to play and rip though, are they able to play/rip discs from any region?

With the exception of DVDs, MakeMKV doesn't output into .iso format. MakeMKV also doesn't rip audio CDs. If you have other software that does these functions, there's no reason to think it wouldn't work with any drives sold by the sellers here.

Do you mean that MakeMKV doesn't output into any disc image file? Or just that it doesn't output into .iso, but can output into some other format of disc image file? Basically my plan was to create backup discs of my BR and 4K-BR collection, ripping and burning them onto M-Disc to increase their lifespan. Would this not be possible then?

[Ezatoka]

4. Rip any region video game that comes in CD/DVD/BR/4K-BR format (ie. PS1/PS2/PS3/PS4/PS5) to my PC into disc image files (ie. ISO)

Depending on the program you use for ripping such disks, the Redumper Wiki Dumping Guides might be a better place to look for compatibility. They have an Optical Disc Drive Compatibility list

[VideoVoodoo]

Depending on the program you use for ripping such disks, the Redumper Wiki Dumping Guides might be a better place to look for compatibility. They have an Optical Disc Drive Compatibility list

That's perfect, thanks for letting me know! I'll have a look through that now.

[dcoke22]

Thank you for answering!

Ok, I understand the abilities of these drives better now. For the types of disc that these drives are able to play and rip though, are they able to play/rip discs from any region?

If the drive is a LibreDrive drive, then MakeMKV can for sure ignore region coding on DVDs and blu-rays. UHDs only have one region code for the whole world, effectively making them region-free. If the drive you're using with MakeMKV does not support LibreDrive, then MakeMKV will do its best to ignore region coding, but it might not always work. LibreDrive is required for MakeMKV to be able to rip UHDs.

With the exception of DVDs, MakeMKV doesn't output into .iso format. MakeMKV also doesn't rip audio CDs. If you have other software that does these functions, there's no reason to think it wouldn't work with any drives sold by the sellers here.

Do you mean that MakeMKV doesn't output into any disc image file? Or just that it doesn't output into .iso, but can output into some other format of disc image file? Basically my plan was to create backup discs of my BR and 4K-BR collection, ripping and burning them onto M-Disc to increase their lifespan. Would this not be possible then?

MakeMKV has a backup function. When you perform this function with a DVD, the output is an .iso file. When you perform a backup with a blu-ray or a UHD, the output is a folder with the contents of the disc inside it. Generally speaking, it is possible to turn that backup folder into an .iso and burn it back onto an optical disc. I think imgburn is often recommended for the task. I don't have a lot of experience with turning a backup folder into an ISO or burning that stuff onto an optical disc. For the most part, I'm trying to get the data off the disc and into a .mkv file, although I do use MakeMKV's backup function as part of my workflow.

As far as making backups of discs goes, it sorta depends what your ultimate goal is. If you want to preserve the structure of the disc and everything that's on it, then storing disk images of the discs is a reasonable choice. If you just want to have access to the movie and any of the interesting 'extras' on the disc, then using MakeMKV to turn all of that stuff into .mkv files is probably enough.
As for how you choose to store this information, well, that comes down to a question of money and space. 20TB hard drives have a reasonable cost per TB these days. That single drive costs less and takes up less space than 20TB of M-Discs, about 200 M-Discs at 100GB each. I know M-Discs are supposed to have long shelf-life, but the cost of replacing that hard drive will be even less in 5 to 10 years when that 20TB hard drive wears out.
How to archive data for the long term is a complicated topic and the MakeMKV forums are probably not the best place to have such a discussion. However, generally speaking, hard drives can inexpensively hold a lot of data reliably for years at a time. Historically, the cost per unit of data on a hard drive has gotten cheaper and there's no reason to think that trend won't continue.

[VideoVoodoo]

If the drive is a LibreDrive drive, then MakeMKV can for sure ignore region coding on DVDs and blu-rays. UHDs only have one region code for the whole world, effectively making them region-free. If the drive you're using with MakeMKV does not support LibreDrive, then MakeMKV will do its best to ignore region coding, but it might not always work. LibreDrive is required for MakeMKV to be able to rip UHDs.

Ok, perfect. I'm planning to buy a pre-flashed drive directly from this forum, so it will be a LibreDrive, so it will be able to rip UHDs then.

MakeMKV has a backup function. When you perform this function with a DVD, the output is an .iso file. When you perform a backup with a blu-ray or a UHD, the output is a folder with the contents of the disc inside it. Generally speaking, it is possible to turn that backup folder into an .iso and burn it back onto an optical disc. I think imgburn is often recommended for the task. I don't have a lot of experience with turning a backup folder into an ISO or burning that stuff onto an optical disc.

Ok, I see. That's good to know. I'm hopeful then that I'll be able to figure out how to do this. If not, then it'd still be worth it anyway to rip BRs and 4K-BRs to MKV files.

If you just want to have access to the movie and any of the interesting 'extras' on the disc, then using MakeMKV to turn all of that stuff into .mkv files is probably enough.
As for how you choose to store this information, well, that comes down to a question of money and space. 20TB hard drives have a reasonable cost per TB these days. That single drive costs less and takes up less space than 20TB of M-Discs, about 200 M-Discs at 100GB each.

Yeah, I agree that ripping the movies and extras to MKV files is perfectly adequate, and I will be doing that as well (actually, if I could only do one, then I'd prefer to be able to do that than to rip them to disc image files). But still, ever since I first thought of it, I've been enamoured with the idea of making an M-Disc copy of each of my movies, to ensure I'd never lose them. I worry about disc rot destroying my collection in years to come, so this would avoid that. You're right though, it would be very expensive to do this for a lot of movies, so I'd probably only do it with my favourites.


Thanks so much for all your help with this!