Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[Billycar11]

Vouches, not vouchers. I just meant anyone who can vouch for you who ordered from you. It's a lot of money to send to a stranger. That's all. It's pretty common when purchasing in Facebook groups, etc.

All my drive order transactions are PayPal goods and services so you have PayPal to back you up and they almost always side with the buyer fyi.

But I don't have much experience with PayPal cases as I just do my job recently 2 drives were lost in the mail I told the buyers I would do the insurance and replace them before one of them even knew it was lost

[stephen273]

Would one of these enclosures work for flashing with a WH16NS60?
NexStar DX2 USB 3.0

[Billycar11]

Would one of these enclosures work for flashing with a WH16NS60?

i recommend the owc mercury pro case https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Mercury-Opti ... B06XRCCV44

[comadose]

Would one of these enclosures work for flashing with a WH16NS60?
NexStar DX2 USB 3.0

I have this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006193051123.html

Been using it with a flashed ASUS drive without issue. I got the USB 3 version and also use it for archival grade ripping of audio CDs and old game console discs.

[nicholfd]

Would one of these enclosures work for flashing with a WH16NS60?
NexStar DX2 USB 3.0

I have this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006193051123.html

Been using it with a flashed ASUS drive without issue. I got the USB 3 version and also use it for archival grade ripping of audio CDs and old game console discs.

If the buyer is in the US, the OWC (Other World Computing) chassis is really the way to go. Its from a US company located in Illinois, who has real people to answer the phone & they all are native English speaking support: OWC. Some of their products are also available on Amazon, fulfilled by Amazon & sold by OWC.

The OWC Mercury Pro chassis is USB 3.0. However for what these drives are used for, USB 2.0 is faster than the max rip speed. If ordering from Aliexpress, paying extra for USB 3.0 vs. USB 2.0 only gets you a lighter wallet.

Thanks,
Frank

[comadose]

Yeah, I had in mind to use mine for some other stuff so figured for the small amount extra I might as well get the USB 3 version. In the end it's only ever housed the ASUS drive.

Not sure what phone support you would need, and I doubt they make the chipset in the US, it's going to be rebadged Taiwanese or Chinese electronics most likely, but if you feel you need that, sure. For outside the US there are the tariffs now. Sadly no European brands I can recommend, not that they would be made here anyway. In Japan you can easily find used enclosures and simply swap the drive out.

Personally I prefer AliExpress over Amazon. Aside from not giving money to Jeff Bezos, the prices are always better and what you lose in support/easy returns tends to be more than offset by the cheaper prices. For the sake of the odd issue you save €€€ over the longer term. AliExpress don't seem to care about credit card chargebacks either, where as Amazon will ban your account. Only ever had to do one, mind you, which is actually a far lower rate of issues than I've had with Amazon. Kinda surprised they haven't said anything with the amount of stuff I've had to return.

For budget, if there are good thrift stores near you, finding an old one and replacing the drive is the way to go. I've also run one "naked" with a USB to SATA adapter and no case. Powered by a 12V USB-C PD cable from the same hub I use for data, very handy.

[nicholfd]

Yeah, I had in mind to use mine for some other stuff so figured for the small amount extra I might as well get the USB 3 version. In the end it's only ever housed the ASUS drive.

Not sure what phone support you would need, and I doubt they make the chipset in the US, it's going to be rebadged Taiwanese or Chinese electronics most likely, but if you feel you need that, sure. For outside the US there are the tariffs now. Sadly no European brands I can recommend, not that they would be made here anyway. In Japan you can easily find used enclosures and simply swap the drive out.

Personally I prefer AliExpress over Amazon. Aside from not giving money to Jeff Bezos, the prices are always better and what you lose in support/easy returns tends to be more than offset by the cheaper prices. For the sake of the odd issue you save €€€ over the longer term. AliExpress don't seem to care about credit card chargebacks either, where as Amazon will ban your account. Only ever had to do one, mind you, which is actually a far lower rate of issues than I've had with Amazon. Kinda surprised they haven't said anything with the amount of stuff I've had to return.

For budget, if there are good thrift stores near you, finding an old one and replacing the drive is the way to go. I've also run one "naked" with a USB to SATA adapter and no case. Powered by a 12V USB-C PD cable from the same hub I use for data, very handy.

I never said the OWC products were made in the US - only that OWC is a US company. They are also family owned & do the right thing by their customers. OWC sells many more items than just drive enclosures. OWC = Other World Computing, referring to their original (still in general) Mac/Apple products/sales orientation - the online store site is https://eshop.macsales.com. Most (maybe all today?) of the products they make/brand are Wintel/Apple compatible. They also offer many PC/Apple related parts, upgrades, etc. These items are where service might become more important.

Just trying to support a "local" US company that treats their customers right.

Personally I prefer to purchase directly from the Mfg (OWC), so they keep more of the money & nothing to Amazon.

Thanks,
Frank

[MikeyLon]

Hi!

I've just purchased an OWC Mercury Pro external Blu-ray drive and checked the drive info in MakeMKV.

Before flashing I wanted to check with you as your warning says NS50+ and my drive shows NS40.

Here are my full drive details:

* OS device name: E:
* Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
* Product: BD-RE BH16NS40
* Revision: 1.05
* Firmware date: 2120-05-06 13:31
* Bus encryption flags: 17
* Highest AACS version: 62
* Drive Platform: MT1959
* Hardware support: Yes
* Firmware type: Original (patched version available)
* Firmware version: 1.05


MakeMKV shows LibreDrive as "Possible (with patched firmware)" across all options, but firmware support currently shows "No".

Apologies if asked before but given the NS40 model number I wanted to check rather than risk bricking it!

Thanks in advance. I'm hoping to rip my first ever UHD bluray!

[comadose]

Definitely best to go direct if you can. They must be suffering right now with the tariffs.

I like to support the good European companies, but for me the overriding factors are quality and the company being morally good. Unfortunately there isn't always a choice, e.g. if you want LTO the only questionable US companies make them. You can get Fujitsu drives and tapes, but they are rebranded.

[Deevad]

Hi,

Im trying to follow the tutorial but i'm scared to mess it up so I hope someone can help me.

Here are my makemkv infos :

Informations lecteur
Nom du lecteur SE : D:
Profil actuel : BD-ROM
Fabricant : ASUS
Produit : BW-16D1HT
Révision : 1.01
Numéro de série : K96DA8F5641
Date micrologiciel : 2113-02-05 19:30
Marqueurs d'encryptage bus : 1F
Version AACS la plus haute : 19

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1939
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.01
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Partial
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

When I watch the youtube guide, it says right at the start, the drive platform must be MT1959 or it'll be ruined.
OK but what should I do then ? Mine is 1939. Does it mean i'll never been able to do it ? Is there a way to change that ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[dcoke22]

Hi,

Im trying to follow the tutorial but i'm scared to mess it up so I hope someone can help me.

Here are my makemkv infos :

Informations lecteur
Nom du lecteur SE : D:
Profil actuel : BD-ROM
Fabricant : ASUS
Produit : BW-16D1HT
Révision : 1.01
Numéro de série : K96DA8F5641
Date micrologiciel : 2113-02-05 19:30
Marqueurs d'encryptage bus : 1F
Version AACS la plus haute : 19

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1939
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.01
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Partial
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

When I watch the youtube guide, it says right at the start, the drive platform must be MT1959 or it'll be ruined.
OK but what should I do then ? Mine is 1939. Does it mean i'll never been able to do it ? Is there a way to change that ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Don't flash your drive. You'll brick it if you do. Because yours is MT1939, it is too old. It should work for ripping DVDs and blu-rays but to rip 4K UHDs, you'll need a newer drive.

[rogarc]

I just wanted to say thank you to the people on this forum. I can't believe how easy a process this was.

[Deevad]

Thank you for your quick answer (but damned I didn't plan to buy another one).

I don't know where to buy it in Europe as there is nothing available on https://shop.uhdfriendlydrives.co.uk/ at the moment. Anybody could help ?

[asmcom]

Yeah, I had in mind to use mine for some other stuff so figured for the small amount extra I might as well get the USB 3 version. In the end it's only ever housed the ASUS drive.

Not sure what phone support you would need, and I doubt they make the chipset in the US, it's going to be rebadged Taiwanese or Chinese electronics most likely, but if you feel you need that, sure. For outside the US there are the tariffs now. Sadly no European brands I can recommend, not that they would be made here anyway. In Japan you can easily find used enclosures and simply swap the drive out.

Personally I prefer AliExpress over Amazon. Aside from not giving money to Jeff Bezos, the prices are always better and what you lose in support/easy returns tends to be more than offset by the cheaper prices. For the sake of the odd issue you save €€€ over the longer term. AliExpress don't seem to care about credit card chargebacks either, where as Amazon will ban your account. Only ever had to do one, mind you, which is actually a far lower rate of issues than I've had with Amazon. Kinda surprised they haven't said anything with the amount of stuff I've had to return.

For budget, if there are good thrift stores near you, finding an old one and replacing the drive is the way to go. I've also run one "naked" with a USB to SATA adapter and no case. Powered by a 12V USB-C PD cable from the same hub I use for data, very handy.

I never said the OWC products were made in the US - only that OWC is a US company. They are also family owned & do the right thing by their customers. OWC sells many more items than just drive enclosures. OWC = Other World Computing, referring to their original (still in general) Mac/Apple products/sales orientation - the online store site is https://eshop.macsales.com. Most (maybe all today?) of the products they make/brand are Wintel/Apple compatible. They also offer many PC/Apple related parts, upgrades, etc. These items are where service might become more important.

Just trying to support a "local" US company that treats their customers right.

Personally I prefer to purchase directly from the Mfg (OWC), so they keep more of the money & nothing to Amazon.

Thanks,
Frank

We have the latest USB 3.2 OWC Enclosures with 20% off the URL below. We are also an OWC Reseller.

https://shop.uhdfriendlydrives.co.uk/ch ... 25fbce9e34

Asmcom

[Mort-]

Helping a friend get into backing up his collection after showing him how I'm doing it, and we're having an issue with flashing the drive he purchased. He followed both the command line instructions he found on here for this drive as well as the current guide at the start of this thread, however he cannot read 4k UHD discs only Blu-Ray and DVD. The flashing process doesn't seem to have failed? MakeMKV gives the "No disc inserted" message when attempting a 4k disc.

Any ideas?

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: I:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WP50NB40
Revision: 1.03
Serial number: xxxxxxxx
Firmware date: 2120-05-07 09:29
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 16

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

No disc inserted