Can an UHD unfriendly drive read an UHD disc?

[Rainer]

I have here 2 ASUS BW-16D1HT - one with v3.02 and another with v3.03
I know that the 3.03 is UHD unfriendly. I want to downgrade the firmware. (didn't start the downgrade yet)
But the drive does not read the UHD disc.

When I insert an UHD disc then Windows & MakeMKV say that there is no disc inserted.
Is that a normal behaviour for unfriendly drives or is this a faulty drive?

Inserted blurays are being detected.

[d00zah]

I have here 2 ASUS BW-16D1HT - one with v3.02 and another with v3.03
I know that the 3.03 is UHD unfriendly. I want to downgrade the firmware. (didn't start the downgrade yet)
But the drive does not read the UHD disc.

When I insert an UHD disc then Windows & MakeMKV say that there is no disc inserted.
Is that a normal behaviour for unfriendly drives or is this a faulty drive?

Inserted blurays are being detected.

Normal. There's a 'loophole' in the 'friendly' firmware which allows reading UHD discs. As you observe, v3.03 closes the 'loophole'.

[Rainer]

Thanks for that info.
I always thought that I could see the disc. But decryption was not possible.

[d00zah]

Since you intend to back down the FW, please follow TeddyRaspin's 'dump > transfer cal data to clean image > flash modded image' procedure. You (& I) will be happier for it.

[Rainer]

The guide was fine and the downgraded one (3.01) shows now the disc.

I also can backup now my disc which caused problems:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=18233

One disc broke - it had certainly a hidden damage.
But the other one which I couldn't read works fine now.
So I was not very lucky and had a faulty drive (the one with firmware 3.02) and a faulty disc.

[smartieyoung]

just wanted to add to the discussion here,normal drives like those that are not bdxl cannot see the disc.bdxl drives are able to view them.I also think i should mention that the friendly firmware which allows this loophole to work has to be on the drive or flashed into it .

i was lucky when i first started out with uhd discs that i had a good working drive an LG brand which was external and the drive oddly enough had the correct firmware so all it took was having makemkv support uhd decrypting and knowing how to use instructions I was given here to make it work.

Okay now today i have a hard drive i bought from a member of this forum and it has worked great Ive prop put 100 or more UHD discs though it and it shows no wear.I treat it like its my baby. .I hope i am not coming off as lecturing,i just in a way wanted to show that I have appreciation for everyone here for helping out those of us who need help.

[jonghotti]

Back in April of this year (2018) a fellow forum member, who goes by <jonghotti> and who can be reached at alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com, sold me a 2017 LG WH16NS40 at a great price and assured me it would be the last drive I'd need for awhile. After ripping 100+ UHD blu rays with "my baby" it is still running as well as it did the day it came into my life. /quote]

Fixed that for ya