Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2024

[jonghotti]

email me Jim,

alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com

[leung19]

Newbie question here,

Is WH16NS60 still the No. 1 recommend UHD internal drive for 2020?

Also, I have an older I-7 desktop, that is about 10 years old. What is the minimum PC requirement for ripping 4K with MakeMKV?

[SamuriHL]

I love my NS60 drives. I'm even using the NS60 firmware on my BW-16D1HT.

CPU is pretty much irrelevant for ripping. There's no encoding going on. It's just data shuffling.

[Billycar11]

alright everyone new video is done in the next few days i will update the guide with the new info for encrypted fw and post the video just working on the updated text

[EyezOnJim68]

email me Jim,

Thank you for reaching out.
When I flashed the firmware on my Archgon MD-8107-U3 I assumed it wasn't working when there was no or false reaction using the ripping software I currently own and even purchasing easefab's losslesscopy since it was priced half-off the of Orig. (they emailed me the wrong key and haven't gotten back) but the point is I was assuming downgrading the firmware would allow us to play rip and use any software available. After a few trials, I gave up the notion and posted the topic here to the forum.

However, before getting back to you I've already successfully ripped a 4k disc using both windows 10 and mac os catalina with the use of MakeMKV. The reaction time is quick. Easy to use. And though I am still testing within my home media systems the ripped copy plays flawlessly; just not firing the atmos on my equipment (saving that query for another post.)

So the remaining question here is

1. downgrading the firmware with the use of the instructions here: youtu.be/Yfpf6HoMMis @puddingistastyapples make the capability avail only with MakeMKV
2. Is the Firmware Type: Original (Unpatched) of any concern?

MakeMKV
Drive Information
OS device name: /dev/rdisk9
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU40N
Revision: BU10
Serial number: KZYICXXXXXX
Firmware date: 2117-05-30 17:28
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 61

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Original (unpatched) <<<<<<<<<<
Firmware version: 0.BU10O
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

[Billycar11]

email me Jim,

So the remaining question here is

1. downgrading the firmware with the use of the instructions here: youtu.be/Yfpf6HoMMis @puddingistastyapples make the capability avail only with MakeMKV
2. Is the Firmware Type: Original (Unpatched) of any concern?

1. No bu10 will work with all UHD rippers except anydvd
2. No


Just so you know you don't need to do anything to your current drive leave it as is

[senzaparole74]

hi guys, what does BU10 mean?

I purchased an external unit (Archgon MD-8107-U3).

I downgraded the firmware to version 1.00. Do I need to do a new firmware update?

[jonghotti]

hi guys, what does BU10 mean?

I purchased an external unit (Archgon MD-8107-U3).

I downgraded the firmware to version 1.00. Do I need to do a new firmware update?

You should be fine with 1.00.

[xantic]

Holy crap!

I know this is anecdotal evidence and isn't proof of anything, but I post this in case it helps someone else.

I bought Avengers Endgame UHD right when it came out. It never successfully ripped. I can play the disc on a standalone player. Yes, makemkv could open it and start ripping it, but eventually it would come to a sector that the drive couldn't read. Re-running it many times showed no progress. So I just assumed bad disc, and ripped the blu-ray version instead, which worked fine.

As more versions of makemkv came out, I would sometimes re-try the Endgame UHD. Never worked.
Last night, I tried to re-rip Frozen II to try various things to deal with atmos problem (even with lastest makemkv, there is still a problem to be solved...but that is not the point here). Frozen II suddenly showed a sector that couldn't be read. This made me think the drive was failing, because it would be unlikely for a new disc like that to go bad (considering I handle my discs carefully). I re-tried a few times, still didn't work.

I started thinking the drive is failing. If was dying, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try cross-flashing to LG to overcome the sleep bug with my Asus.
After a successful flash, suddenly Frozen II ripped without the read sector problem. On a lark, I decided to try Endgame again. Holy crap, it worked this time!

Again, this is not evidence or proof of anything. It possible I just got really really lucky this time. But I feel like it helped me. Maybe it could help someone else.

I'm seconding this. I was having issues ripping Mad Max Fury Road on my Asus BW-16D1HT. Into the Spider-Verse and Crimes of Grindelwald ripped fine with no read errors but I couldn't for the life of me get Mad Max to rip without getting read errors halfway through the process. I crossflashed to the WH16NS60-MK firmware and was able to rip Mad Max with no read errors right afterwards. It ripped at a faster read speed to boot.

[Billycar11]

OK new video is up and i added a recommended firmware section and the commands to flash your drive in the first post for encrypted and unencrypted drives
please read the new sections carefully and follow the video instructions

[arrbee99]

Apologies, as I'm sure you get these questions all the time, but -

Have just bought (but not yet installed) a BH16NS55 with firmware 1.04 on it, which seems to mean additional downgrade checks but not encrypted.

So, looking at the new instructions (and older bits) and new video, it seems there is a MK version available for this firmware, so should I flash to HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BH16NS55-1.04-NM01701-211901041342.bin or to HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin. Or do I do one and then the other ? I found those in a MK directory after I downloaded from a mediafire link here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18933 where it says 'EDIT (22.05.2020):'

Or am I demonstrating my total ignorance of what to do (again).

Thanks very much.

[Billycar11]

Apologies, as I'm sure you get these questions all the time, but -

Have just bought (but not yet installed) a BH16NS55 with firmware 1.04 on it, which seems to mean additional downgrade checks but not encrypted.

So, looking at the new instructions (and older bits) and new video, it seems there is a MK version available for this firmware, so should I flash to HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BH16NS55-1.04-NM01701-211901041342.bin or to HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin. Or do I do one and then the other ? I found those in a MK directory after I downloaded from a mediafire link here viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18933 where it says 'EDIT (22.05.2020):'

Or am I demonstrating my total ignorance of what to do (again).

Thanks very much.

if you use makemkv i recommend wh16ns60 1.02mk
as it says here:

Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
WH16NS60 > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH14NS40 > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH16NS40 > WH16NS60 1.02MK

BH16NS55 > WH16NS60 1.02MK

Asus BW-16D1HT > Asus BW-16D1HT 3.10MK

BU40N > BU40N 1.03MK

[arrbee99]

Thanks very much.

Yes, I use MakeMKV.

So hopefully, when I'm brave enough to try, that will make the command as per your video -

makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d D: rawflash -i C:\Users\ME\Downloads\(Modified) ASUS ODD FW Changer (24.08.2019) + UHD Friendly Firmwares + Latest MK Pack (15.04.2020)\mk-firmware-pack-20200415\MK\HL-DT-ST\WH16NS60\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

[Billycar11]

Thanks very much.

Yes, I use MakeMKV.

So hopefully, when I'm brave enough to try, that will make the command as per your video -

makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d D: rawflash -i C:\Users\ME\Downloads\(Modified) ASUS ODD FW Changer (24.08.2019) + UHD Friendly Firmwares + Latest MK Pack (15.04.2020)\mk-firmware-pack-20200415\MK\HL-DT-ST\WH16NS60\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

yeah but the spaces probably wont work

[MartyMcNuts]

Thanks very much.

Yes, I use MakeMKV.

So hopefully, when I'm brave enough to try, that will make the command as per your video -

makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d D: rawflash -i C:\Users\ME\Downloads\(Modified) ASUS ODD FW Changer (24.08.2019) + UHD Friendly Firmwares + Latest MK Pack (15.04.2020)\mk-firmware-pack-20200415\MK\HL-DT-ST\WH16NS60\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

yeah but the spaces probably wont work

Yep, just add quotes for the input and it should work.

makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d D: rawflash -i "C:\Users\ME\Downloads\(Modified) ASUS ODD FW Changer (24.08.2019) + UHD Friendly Firmwares + Latest MK Pack (15.04.2020)\mk-firmware-pack-20200415\MK\HL-DT-ST\WH16NS60\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin"