Aliexpress BU40N inside USB3.0 enclosure. How to in Archlinux...

[UltraRip]

BU40N (INIC-1618L enclosure) – Stable UHD ripping on Linux (Arch)

First, thanks to the MakeMKV community for the tooling and documentation around UHD-friendly drives.

This post documents a reproducible setup for stabilizing a BU40N drive in a USB enclosure based on the INIC-1618L bridge, specifically under Linux where UASP-related issues can cause disconnects during UHD reads.

Hardware / Software Stack

• Drive: BU40N (UHD-friendly, reflashed to firmware 1.03)
• Enclosure: INIC-1618L (USB 3.0, single micro-B port)
• OS: Arch Linux
• Kernel: 6.19
• MakeMKV: 1.18.3

The enclosure supports SAT passthrough and firmware flashing without disassembly.

Observed Failure Modes (Linux only)

All issues below were reproducible under Linux but not present in Windows 10:

• USB device reset/disconnect during reads of dual-layer UHD (66GB) media
• Intermittent mount failures / excessive spin-up retries
• Inconsistent readability across UHD discs (especially layer transitions)
• Excessive seek noise during TOC read / initial access
• Device disconnect when inserting media with MakeMKV already polling the drive

Root Cause (Likely)

The INIC-1618L bridge advertises UASP support, but in practice:

• UASP command queueing conflicts with optical drive behavior
• Layer transitions (L0 → L1) introduce latency interpreted as timeouts
• This triggers USB resets at the bridge level (visible in dmesg)

This aligns with known instability of UASP for optical media, especially UHD Blu-ray.

Mitigation: usb-storage quirks (disable UASP + stabilize probing)

Force fallback to BOT (Bulk-Only Transport) and reduce aggressive probing:

Code: Select all

options usb-storage quirks=13fd:0840:mku

Where:

• 13fd:0840 → INIC-1618L VID:PID
• u → disables UASP (critical)
• m → reduces aggressive probing
• k → avoids HID report ID conflicts (bridge quirk)

Implementation (Arch Linux)

1. Identify device:

   Code: Select all

   lsusb
   

   Example:

   Code: Select all

   Bus 003 Device 005: ID 13fd:0840 Initio Corporation INIC-1618L SATA
   

2. Create quirk config:

   Code: Select all

   echo 'options usb-storage quirks=13fd:0840:mku' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage-quirks.conf
   

3. Include in initramfs:

   Code: Select all

   sudo nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
   

   Modify:

   Code: Select all

   FILES=(/etc/modprobe.d/usb-storage-quirks.conf)
   

4. Rebuild initramfs:

   Code: Select all

   sudo mkinitcpio -P
   

5. Reboot

Verification

Code: Select all

cat /sys/module/usb_storage/parameters/quirks

Expected:

Code: Select all

13fd:0840:mku

Also confirm in dmesg that:

• Device binds to usb-storage (not uas)
• No UAS driver attachment occurs

Multi-device quirks

Combine entries as comma-separated:

Code: Select all

options usb-storage quirks=174c:1153:u,13fd:0840:mku

Example:

• 174cu → disables UASP on ASM1153 bridge (UGREEN adapter)

Operational Notes (Important for stability)

• Do not insert media while MakeMKV is open (avoid concurrent polling + spin-up)
• Allow kernel to fully enumerate and stabilize (~5 seconds) before launching MakeMKV
• Allow cooldown between long UHD reads (~30 minutes recommended)
• Keep discs clean to reduce read retries

Alternative (Power-related instability)

If disconnects persist:

• Remove drive from enclosure
• Use a powered SATA → USB adapter
• Use a Slimline SATA adapter

This helps mitigate power delivery limitations of some enclosures.

What NOT to do

• Avoid USB hubs (even powered)
• They add latency and increase transport-level instability
• They can worsen UASP-related issues

Summary

The key fix is:

Disable UASP ("u" quirk) for INIC-1618L-based enclosures

Everything else is secondary tuning.

[georgesgiralt]

Thank you, this explains some strange things I get.
Could you post a link for your metal enclosure ? I'm looking for one...

[UltraRip]

Thank you, this explains some strange things I get.
Could you post a link for your metal enclosure ? I'm looking for one...

Hi!, I added the link to the Aliexpress item in the main post. Take into account that there are several similar enclosures in Aliexpress, some of them include 2 cables which you would need to connect simultaneously to 2 USB ports in your PC, and there are other enclosures which have only one USB 3.0 cable, this is the one I'm using. The drive that I purchased came already inside this kind of enclosure.

I think this is the same enclosure I'm using:
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005008737120645.html
If you still have USB bridge reset problems, you can open the enclosure and use use a SATA to USB3.0 adapter with external power supply like this, which I use to backup my movies in HDDs:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MYU0EAU
And an additional Sata to Mini-sata adapter like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S6I9D7E
This also worked for me before using the quirks configuration, allowing me to read a 2 layer UHD disk that was having issues, but it still can throw some errors in dmesg.

Another alternative is to use a powered USB3.0 hub.

[georgesgiralt]

Thank you !