Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[Billycar11]

Hi,

Which firmware for the ASUS BW-16D1H-U PRO please ? I also have issue with Nero Burning rom (a better software ?) which doesn’t detect my device maybe need a driver I don’t have, just the default Windows one.

Thanks.

Flash to wh16ns60

Hello, Im also considering to buy an Asus BW-16D1HT, specifically:
Model: BW-16D1HT
Complete model name: BW-16D1HT/BLK/B/AS
Manufacture date: July 2016
Model P/N: 90DD0200 - B30000

I would like to know if it's possible to make it able to rip UHD blu-rays while maintaining the ability to burn bluray discs, as I've read in the guide:

In some cases crossflashing an Asus drive to an LG or the other way around you may no longer be able to burn disks-SamuriHL

If that reveals possible what would be the best "firmware path" to follow?

We don't know sometimes it's fine sometimes it's not
If it's not then You just go to Asus fw and have to deal with the sleep bug

[Maskman]

Flash to wh16ns60

Thanks ! Which version please ? There is different versions of wh16ns60.

I recommend 1.02 or 1.00

Thank you very much

[farmboy]

"HK Download" error - MakeMKV needs internet access to download keys. It is enabled by default. Check internet or confirm setting in MakeMKV allows Internet access. I *think* some downloads are from Russia(?) - make sure your FW/router is not blocking Regional IP addresses.

Download failure is not related to the SCSI error messages - those are still power related.

Desktop does not necessarily equal better power.

Use a "Y" cable w/2 x USB port connections, AC adapter (if chassis supports it), or a good, high amp output USB hub.

can you point to a specific "Y" cable?
I've tried a few different types, but the ones I've gotten only allow power and data from the side with 1 connection (Side A) to either cable on the two cable side (Side B). Meaning that I cannot connect the the drive to side A, and have one cable on side B go to the computer and the other go to my 65W output USB-C. The power won't go from side B to side A. And it appears to be isolated so I can't send power across the two side B cables.
(hopefully this makes sense). I'm not finding a way to supply power AND data to the drive via two different sources.

Well, after getting that specific Y cable, and confirming I can power the drive proper through it from an external dedicated power supply, still getting SCSI errors and won't run. I'm giving up on this drive. Probably just something about it isn't letting it work.
Will buy a drive from one of you guys.
Thank you for the help, BTW! I do really appreciate it!!!

[andidHayder]

I tried looking through the forum but didn’t find an answer. I’m trying to flash using a Mac and it says to only use 1.17.7 for Linux but I was a bit confused on the wording of that was also true for Mac. 1.17.7 keeps getting a fatal error on MacOS Tahoe.

[dcoke22]

I tried looking through the forum but didn’t find an answer. I’m trying to flash using a Mac and it says to only use 1.17.7 for Linux but I was a bit confused on the wording of that was also true for Mac. 1.17.7 keeps getting a fatal error on MacOS Tahoe.

You can use current MakeMKV to flash on macOS. The commands to flash on macOS and Linux are similar, which is why they're often spoken about together.

MacOS 15.4 introduced a change that broke MakeMKV. I think it was fixed in MakeMKV 1.18.0 or maybe 1.18.1 (I don't remember off the top of my head). MakeMKV 1.17.7 undoubtedly won't work on Tahoe.

“Fatal Error Occured” with MacOS 15.4 Developer Beta 1

[andidHayder]

I tried looking through the forum but didn’t find an answer. I’m trying to flash using a Mac and it says to only use 1.17.7 for Linux but I was a bit confused on the wording of that was also true for Mac. 1.17.7 keeps getting a fatal error on MacOS Tahoe.

You can use current MakeMKV to flash on macOS. The commands to flash on macOS and Linux are similar, which is why they're often spoken about together.

MacOS 15.4 introduced a change that broke MakeMKV. I think it was fixed in MakeMKV 1.18.0 or maybe 1.18.1 (I don't remember off the top of my head). MakeMKV 1.17.7 undoubtedly won't work on Tahoe.

“Fatal Error Occured” with MacOS 15.4 Developer Beta 1

Thanks!

[TheRealKplayz]

So if anyone is bored and wants to look through some firmware for a disk drive, to remove the RPC region lock, i uploaded the firmware of my disk drive (which currently doesn't have a patch from what i can find.) to archive.org


https://archive.org/details/dvd-write-a ... e-firmware


Has more details on the page, its the raw bin dumb.

[librelibre]

How do you backup your original firmware before flashing? I would like to be able to revert if it doesn't go right.

Using linux. Have both makemkv 1.17.7 and 1.18.3. Running makemkvcon f --version for either reports LibDriveIo/SdfTool version: 2.6

Edit: Just bought the BP50NB40 NB52 . I'm probably going to return it. Not only does the flashing process seem confusing but also I already have trouble with the verbatim 43888. I got it to replace the verbatim. Only got it to rip a couple discs, but now it seems it can't rip any discs despite them looking ok and playing properly, I just want to back them up jic since I'm not sure I can find replacements. Dunno if it's the jamless play or what. I'm wondering if it may also be a cable or power issue, since it has no power brick, and the drive is usb c, they give you a usb c to a cable, with a usb c adapter. It just seems problematic.

I'm thinking of getting the asus SBW-06D2X-U or BW-16D1X-U but from what I'm reports I'm reading the new ones are both LG based. Dunno if anyone has found flashing removes jamless play or how well the newer ones will work compared to the verbatim.

[Billycar11]

How do you backup your original firmware before flashing? I would like to be able to revert if it doesn't go right.

Using linux. Have both makemkv 1.17.7 and 1.18.3. Running makemkvcon f --version for either reports LibDriveIo/SdfTool version: 2.6

Edit: Just bought the BP50NB40 NB52 . I'm probably going to return it. Not only does the flashing process seem confusing but also I already have trouble with the verbatim 43888. I got it to replace the verbatim. Only got it to rip a couple discs, but now it seems it can't rip any discs despite them looking ok and playing properly, I just want to back them up jic since I'm not sure I can find replacements. Dunno if it's the jamless play or what. I'm wondering if it may also be a cable or power issue, since it has no power brick, and the drive is usb c, they give you a usb c to a cable, with a usb c adapter. It just seems problematic.

I'm thinking of getting the asus SBW-06D2X-U or BW-16D1X-U but from what I'm reports I'm reading the new ones are both LG based. Dunno if anyone has found flashing removes jamless play or how well the newer ones will work compared to the verbatim.

Don't return it me or Marty can flash it for you easy on windows

Please just double read the guides it's not hard to flash and if your unsure email is and we can help

Optical drives are becoming very rare would be a shame to see it go to waste

[Billycar11]

added https://www.newegg.com/icy-dock-mb343sp ... -_-Product
and https://www.amazon.com/ChenYang-slimlin ... 18-7067709
to use slim sata drives with 5.25 bays and cases as the slim sata cases and adapters are hit and miss with flashing support

[Smoerrebroed]

Hey Everyone,

I've been an on and off user of MakeMKV for several years now, but I figured it's time to go 4K. In order to be able to rip UHD disks, I got my hands on a Verbatim 43888 drive which has an LG-DT-ST BU40N drive with firmware 1.05. (Who still remembers that company being called Goldstar?)

As I only run Arch Linux on all my machines, I wanted to use makemkvcon for flashing. Turns out that's not so easy these days. The main issue I encountered was the version requirement of 1.17.7 for flashing. Yes, there's an AUR package with the version, but it's no longer compiling due to several internal changes (related to FFmpeg it seems). As I didn't feel like diving deep into source code, I wanted to find a more "precompiled" way of doing this. So I thought of running an Ubuntu container where that version 1.17.7 is still available. Turns out, you have to go back to Ubuntu 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur) to get that version available in the semi-official PPA. Long story short, here are the steps that I followed to flash my drive to MK firmware version 1.04:

First off, download MK Firmware Pack and sdf.bin from the links in #1 in this thread. (I'm assuming you're downloading/extracting to ~/Downloads.)

Code: Select all

$ docker run -itd --device /dev/sr0 --device /dev/sg2 --name ubuntu -v ~/Downloads/:/mnt/ ubuntu:mantic && docker exec -it ubuntu /bin/bash
<Update /etc/apt/sources.list to point to the old-releases repo as Mantic is EoL>
$ apt update && apt install software-properties-common
$ apt-add-repository ppa:heyarje/makemkv-beta
$ apt install makemkv-bin makemkv-oss

Now you can finally start flashing. For what it's worth, this is the command line I used (as I feel there are not many clear and concise guides for Linux specifically):

Code: Select all

$ makemkvcon f -d /dev/sr0 -f /mnt/sdf.bin rawflash enc -i /mnt/mk-firmware-pack-20200720/MK/HL-DT-ST/BU40N-N-Main/HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin

That's it! I hope it's useful for some people. If nothing else,it can serve as my own cheat sheet should I have to do this again at some point.

[BrianInSC]

How do you backup your original firmware before flashing? I would like to be able to revert if it doesn't go right.

Using linux. Have both makemkv 1.17.7 and 1.18.3. Running makemkvcon f --version for either reports LibDriveIo/SdfTool version: 2.6

Edit: Just bought the BP50NB40 NB52 . I'm probably going to return it. Not only does the flashing process seem confusing but also I already have trouble with the verbatim 43888. I got it to replace the verbatim. Only got it to rip a couple discs, but now it seems it can't rip any discs despite them looking ok and playing properly, I just want to back them up jic since I'm not sure I can find replacements. Dunno if it's the jamless play or what. I'm wondering if it may also be a cable or power issue, since it has no power brick, and the drive is usb c, they give you a usb c to a cable, with a usb c adapter. It just seems problematic.

I'm thinking of getting the asus SBW-06D2X-U or BW-16D1X-U but from what I'm reports I'm reading the new ones are both LG based. Dunno if anyone has found flashing removes jamless play or how well the newer ones will work compared to the verbatim.

Hello. I have two BW-16D1X-U units. One I purchased pre-flashed from a seller here and one I just bought from the ASUS site and flashed it myself. They both work great.

[MartyMcNuts]

Hey Everyone,

I've been an on and off user of MakeMKV for several years now, but I figured it's time to go 4K. In order to be able to rip UHD disks, I got my hands on a Verbatim 43888 drive which has an LG-DT-ST BU40N drive with firmware 1.05. (Who still remembers that company being called Goldstar?)

As I only run Arch Linux on all my machines, I wanted to use makemkvcon for flashing. Turns out that's not so easy these days. The main issue I encountered was the version requirement of 1.17.7 for flashing. Yes, there's an AUR package with the version, but it's no longer compiling due to several internal changes (related to FFmpeg it seems). As I didn't feel like diving deep into source code, I wanted to find a more "precompiled" way of doing this. So I thought of running an Ubuntu container where that version 1.17.7 is still available. Turns out, you have to go back to Ubuntu 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur) to get that version available in the semi-official PPA. Long story short, here are the steps that I followed to flash my drive to MK firmware version 1.04:

First off, download MK Firmware Pack and sdf.bin from the links in #1 in this thread. (I'm assuming you're downloading/extracting to ~/Downloads.)

Code: Select all

$ docker run -itd --device /dev/sr0 --device /dev/sg2 --name ubuntu -v ~/Downloads/:/mnt/ ubuntu:mantic && docker exec -it ubuntu /bin/bash
<Update /etc/apt/sources.list to point to the old-releases repo as Mantic is EoL>
$ apt update && apt install software-properties-common
$ apt-add-repository ppa:heyarje/makemkv-beta
$ apt install makemkv-bin makemkv-oss

Now you can finally start flashing. For what it's worth, this is the command line I used (as I feel there are not many clear and concise guides for Linux specifically):

Code: Select all

$ makemkvcon f -d /dev/sr0 -f /mnt/sdf.bin rawflash enc -i /mnt/mk-firmware-pack-20200720/MK/HL-DT-ST/BU40N-N-Main/HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin

That's it! I hope it's useful for some people. If nothing else,it can serve as my own cheat sheet should I have to do this again at some point.

You may find that the drive won't read UHD discs properly on Linux which is a Linux issue wiht MK firmware. If this happens, flash it to BU40N 1.00.

[MikeTD436]

Hi folks,
Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask... I'm new to the forum and Makemkv.
I have the following drive, which from what I've read here I think I should be able to flash with revised firmware to enable Libredrive. Where I'm unsure is which fireware I should be using so I would appreciate some pointers as you where to look.

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU50N
Revision: GE03
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2119-04-23 16:48
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 68

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1959

Can I also check that I should use the SDFtool flasher and lastly do I just flash the new firmware or should I be backing up the existing drive forward first.

Sorry for all the probably obvious newbie questions and thanks in advance for your help.
Mike

[Billycar11]

Hi folks,
Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask... I'm new to the forum and Makemkv.
I have the following drive, which from what I've read here I think I should be able to flash with revised firmware to enable Libredrive. Where I'm unsure is which fireware I should be using so I would appreciate some pointers as you where to look.

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU50N
Revision: GE03
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2119-04-23 16:48
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 68

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1959

Can I also check that I should use the SDFtool flasher and lastly do I just flash the new firmware or should I be backing up the existing drive forward first.

Sorry for all the probably obvious newbie questions and thanks in advance for your help.
Mike

Treat it as a bu40n
Backups are not needed

Or email me or Marty for an automated flasher
My email is below