Newbie needs help finding a 4K UHD drive

[PapaBaer]

Hi. My name is Toni and I'm from Germany. I'm writing here with a translator and hope that you understand what I want to say.

I started collecting movies (4K UHD and Blu-Ray) not too long ago. Now I want to back them up or rip them. I'm going to use a Macbook Air M4 for this.

I don't think I have any major requirements.
- Internal or external drive (if external, a case would be nice)
- USB-C connection would be nice

The only thing that's really important to me is that the drive works well and isn't too expensive. Although the last point is pretty unlikely, as it seems that drives are hard to find now.

I have tried to read up on this and collect some information.

It seems that 4K UHD-compatible drives are no longer being produced and are therefore becoming rare. A distinction must be made between drives that first need to be flashed with special firmware. This probably has to be done via Windows. If I have read correctly, a VM via macOS is not sufficient for this? That would eliminate that option for me, as I don't have a Windows device.

There are also certain drives that are already suitable for ripping ex works, provided they have the right firmware.

There are also retailers that sell pre-configured drives. I have already identified ASMCOM as a retailer for Europe. As soon as they are back in stock, I will send them an inquiry.

I quickly found the following drives. It would be great if someone could tell me whether these can be used without flashing.

First, there is the Verbatim 43888. I guess I have to make sure that it has a Pioneer drive installed? But you can only find that out by reading it with MakeMKV, right?

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/Of ... batim.html


Another drive I found is this one:

https://www.amazon.de/techPulse120-Supe ... WQPGJ&th=1

Is anyone of these devices any good, or would you recommend another one?
Sorry for the long text. I hope you can help me.

Have a nice day.

Greetings from Germany

[MartyMcNuts]

Hi. My name is Toni and I'm from Germany. I'm writing here with a translator and hope that you understand what I want to say.

I started collecting movies (4K UHD and Blu-Ray) not too long ago. Now I want to back them up or rip them. I'm going to use a Macbook Air M4 for this.

I don't think I have any major requirements.
- Internal or external drive (if external, a case would be nice)
- USB-C connection would be nice

The only thing that's really important to me is that the drive works well and isn't too expensive. Although the last point is pretty unlikely, as it seems that drives are hard to find now.

I have tried to read up on this and collect some information.

It seems that 4K UHD-compatible drives are no longer being produced and are therefore becoming rare. A distinction must be made between drives that first need to be flashed with special firmware. This probably has to be done via Windows. If I have read correctly, a VM via macOS is not sufficient for this? That would eliminate that option for me, as I don't have a Windows device.

There are also certain drives that are already suitable for ripping ex works, provided they have the right firmware.

There are also retailers that sell pre-configured drives. I have already identified ASMCOM as a retailer for Europe. As soon as they are back in stock, I will send them an inquiry.

I quickly found the following drives. It would be great if someone could tell me whether these can be used without flashing.

First, there is the Verbatim 43888. I guess I have to make sure that it has a Pioneer drive installed? But you can only find that out by reading it with MakeMKV, right?

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/Of ... batim.html


Another drive I found is this one:

https://www.amazon.de/techPulse120-Supe ... WQPGJ&th=1

Is anyone of these devices any good, or would you recommend another one?
Sorry for the long text. I hope you can help me.

Have a nice day.

Greetings from Germany

The Verbatim 43888 only has a LG BU40N inside but can easily be flashed. They have not had Pioneer drives in them since March 2025. A good VM such as VMware among others can be used on Mac with Windows 11 64 bit and SDFtool flasher or you can just use the CLI on Mac to flash the 43888.

No, the Techpulse is not a recommended drive.

Some other Verbatim models such as 43887 and 43890 may still contain a Pioneer drive inside if you are lucky.