Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2025

[tjones85]

Ah okay thanks so those drives are flashable and will enable me to run MakeMKV?

[jspace]

Big thanks to MartyMcNuts and the other devs for the SDF tool. Getting a WH14NS40 to rip UHDs was super easy.

[fozzmoo]

I posted 5 days ago and got no response, so I'm reposting in hopes someone will see this one and have some ideas.

Howdy. I'm running Linux and I have a HL-DT-ST BD-RE WH14NS40, SVC CODE of NS50 running firmware version 1.05. I understand from the first page post this is an encrypted firmware so I need to run 'makemkvcon' with the 'enc' option. However, I'm confused what firmware I should be installing on it to be able to read UHD discs. I've tried unsuccessfully to flash it with HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin. When I run the makemkvcon command, it just sits there and does nothing.

[Billycar11]

I posted 5 days ago and got no response, so I'm reposting in hopes someone will see this one and have some ideas.

Howdy. I'm running Linux and I have a HL-DT-ST BD-RE WH14NS40, SVC CODE of NS50 running firmware version 1.05. I understand from the first page post this is an encrypted firmware so I need to run 'makemkvcon' with the 'enc' option. However, I'm confused what firmware I should be installing on it to be able to read UHD discs. I've tried unsuccessfully to flash it with HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin. When I run the makemkvcon command, it just sits there and does nothing.

Sadly I have seen this a few times on linux it's not a command issue it's something else best to message the developer and report it

[stootime]

Just popping in to say thanks for the guides and resources. WH14NS40 all flashed and ripping with no hassles. I already registered my MakeMKV a month or two back, but now enjoying the UHD side of things

[nawfal07]

Hi everyone, first of all thank you so much for this wonderful thread, you guys are amazing.

I’m very new, I have thousands of BDs, a good number of them is 4K UHD and now I decided to back them up into MKV with bit-perfect quality. Found out about MakeMKV, which is also a superb software and plan to buy it if I can get a working drive.

Want to buy a pre-flashed drive, particularly from Asmcom but his eBay page says he’s away and the products seem to be out of stock. Other sellers here don’t ship to my country.

Been reading this thread the last couple of days, got until page 23 but I’ve found an LG WH16NS60 drive with special price that will end in a few hours so I need to find out the answer quickly I can’t wait until I finish reading the entire thread.

It says this in the description:

“New LG WH16NS60 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter
LG WH16NS40 Flashed to WH16NS60 Firmware v1.00 4K UHD FRIENDLY UNLOCKED Discs- Bare Internal Drive”

Asked the seller he said all he knows it can play 4K UHD discs but no idea if it can rip them.

So my question is, can it rip discs right out the box? Or do I still need to flash the firmware?

Thank you in advance for any help!

[zittrig]

With WH16NS60 1.00 the drive should work with MakeMKV and it ripping function.

But the recommended firmware is the WH16NS60 1.02MK which you could flash by yourself after buying.

[MartyMcNuts]

With WH16NS60 1.00 the drive should work with MakeMKV and it ripping function.

But the recommended firmware is the WH16NS60 1.02MK which you could flash by yourself after buying.

Nothing wrong with 1.00!! Keep it on 1.00 if you use other ripping software besides MakeMKV.

[zittrig]

Yes, I don't say the 1.00 is wrong. But in this forum always is written (and that is my expierience also) that the 1.02MK ist the recommended one (for using with MakeMKV) and he want use MakeMKV. So I thought ....
Sorry @nawfal07, no intention for confusion.

[nawfal07]

Yes, I don't say the 1.00 is wrong. But in this forum always is written (and that is my expierience also) that the 1.02MK ist the recommended one (for using with MakeMKV) and he want use MakeMKV. So I thought ....
Sorry @nawfal07, no intention for confusion.

No need to apologise, you answered my question and some! Appreciated it. Thank you and also Marty.

You guys are awesome!

[nawfal07]

Hi again, I placed order for the WH16NS60 but there’s still time to cancel.

I’ve found a bare BU40N for $40 cheaper, manufactured in June 2017.

Read up to page 68 now, it seems that it has much lower failure rate so far while the desktop version can have up to 25% failure.

Is the BU40N still the most reliable compared to others?

[Coopervid]

Hi again, I placed order for the WH16NS60 but there’s still time to cancel.

I’ve found a bare BU40N for $40 cheaper, manufactured in June 2017.

Read up to page 68 now, it seems that it has much lower failure rate so far while the desktop version can have up to 25% failure.

Is the BU40N still the most reliable compared to others?

The LG 40N is the best LG. Pioneers are better if you can find one that works OOTB or can be flashed.

[nawfal07]

Hi again, I placed order for the WH16NS60 but there’s still time to cancel.

I’ve found a bare BU40N for $40 cheaper, manufactured in June 2017.

Read up to page 68 now, it seems that it has much lower failure rate so far while the desktop version can have up to 25% failure.

Is the BU40N still the most reliable compared to others?

The LG 40N is the best LG. Pioneers are better if you can find one that works OOTB or can be flashed.

Thanks! I guess I’ll keep the order for now.

[mm13579]

So I managed to test 1.02 and 1.03mk firmware with my BU40N drive and can get it to show the UHD disc now but when I click it it runs and gets error see screenshot. It does not make any sense. But it does DVD and Blu ray just fine it is just messed up for UHD discs

[mm13579]

I wanted to mention as previously stated it is running LibreDrive and it is unrestricted with settings displayed and I'm using makemkv 1.7.8 and 1.7.9 version with no difference