Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[Billycar11]

I tried on MacOS and Windows 10, those are the platforms I tested on. I do not run Windows 11 but can’t figure that it’s a Windows 11 specific deal. I’ll flash via sata and then try to see if the it will still rip in the enclosure

ok thanks ill update the stuff once you report back.
its problem not 11's tpm requirement then if your on 10 and mac

[itsvoodoo]

I tried on MacOS and Windows 10, those are the platforms I tested on. I do not run Windows 11 but can’t figure that it’s a Windows 11 specific deal. I’ll flash via sata and then try to see if the it will still rip in the enclosure

ok thanks ill update the stuff once you report back.
its problem not 11's tpm requirement then if your on 10 and mac

Yup, went direct to sata and sure enough I was able to flash down to 1.02 with the SDFtool Flasher, definetly an issue with the enclosure for flashing. I am new to this ripping scene, but I will try a 4k rip with and without the enclosure and see how that goes.

[MartyMcNuts]

I tried on MacOS and Windows 10, those are the platforms I tested on. I do not run Windows 11 but can’t figure that it’s a Windows 11 specific deal. I’ll flash via sata and then try to see if the it will still rip in the enclosure

ok thanks ill update the stuff once you report back.
its problem not 11's tpm requirement then if your on 10 and mac

Yup, went direct to sata and sure enough I was able to flash down to 1.02 with the SDFtool Flasher, definetly an issue with the enclosure for flashing. I am new to this ripping scene, but I will try a 4k rip with and without the enclosure and see how that goes.

Now that the drive has been flashed, you should be able to put it in the enclosure and rip discs now. It sounds like the enclosures are no longer passing through all the flashing commands to the drive. It should not effect ripping.

[Billycar11]

Yup, went direct to sata and sure enough I was able to flash down to 1.02 with the SDFtool Flasher, definetly an issue with the enclosure for flashing. I am new to this ripping scene, but I will try a 4k rip with and without the enclosure and see how that goes.

ok i will defiantly move the Vantec to the no flashing section i will have to see more reports about the 1099 i will put a question mark on that one

[MartyMcNuts]

Yup, went direct to sata and sure enough I was able to flash down to 1.02 with the SDFtool Flasher, definetly an issue with the enclosure for flashing. I am new to this ripping scene, but I will try a 4k rip with and without the enclosure and see how that goes.

ok i will defiantly move the Vantec to the no flashing section i will have to see more reports about the 1099 i will put a question mark on that one

I haven't been able to get the Y-1099's for a few months now. Maybe they were changing something in them.... I do have a couple of new Unitek Y-3324 adapters that I recieved a couple of weeks ago. I'll test them over the next couple of days to make sure they work for flashing and report back.

[asmcom]

Yup, went direct to sata and sure enough I was able to flash down to 1.02 with the SDFtool Flasher, definetly an issue with the enclosure for flashing. I am new to this ripping scene, but I will try a 4k rip with and without the enclosure and see how that goes.

ok i will defiantly move the Vantec to the no flashing section i will have to see more reports about the 1099 i will put a question mark on that one

Hi Billy

I can confirm that the Vantec NST-536S3-BK and the new model NST-540S3-BK (DX2) both flash no problems.

I have receipt of the new prototype and it flashes too.

As you know my wholesale company is the European distributer for these Enclosures.

They have a full 2 year RMA warranty and if it does not rip it can be replaced.

Please do not move to unsupported for flashing.

Kind Regards

Asmcom

Happy New Year Billy.

Keep up your brilliant work

[Billycar11]

Hi Billy

I can confirm that the Vantec NST-536S3-BK and the new model NST-540S3-BK (DX2) both flash no problems.

I have receipt of the new prototype and it flashes too.

As you know my wholesale company is the European distributer for these Enclosures.

They have a full 2 year RMA warranty and if it does not rip it can be replaced.

Please do not move to unsupported for flashing.

Kind Regards

Asmcom

Happy New Year Billy.

Keep up your brilliant work

not really sure what to do i have conflicting info i sent a remote flash kit out to one guy with it and it did not work and 2 guys here say it also does not flash.
my automated flasher returned this error on the cases
Desktop drive handshake failed with error=0x82000000, trying slim drive handshake...

Write flags NG 05/24/00

Command produced error code 0x8f052400
i know the old one works but maybe there is a batch in the middle between old and new that does not flash when they were switching chips or something.

[asmcom]

Hi Billy

I can confirm that the Vantec NST-536S3-BK and the new model NST-540S3-BK (DX2) both flash no problems.

I have receipt of the new prototype and it flashes too.

As you know my wholesale company is the European distributer for these Enclosures.

They have a full 2 year RMA warranty and if it does not rip it can be replaced.

Please do not move to unsupported for flashing.

Kind Regards

Asmcom

Happy New Year Billy.

Keep up your brilliant work

not really sure what to do i have conflicting info i sent a remote flash kit out to one guy with it and it did not work and 2 guys here say it also does not flash.
my automated flasher returned this error on the cases
Desktop drive handshake failed with error=0x82000000, trying slim drive handshake...

Write flags NG 05/24/00

Command produced error code 0x8f052400
i know the old one works but maybe there is a batch in the middle between old and new that does not flash when they were switching chips or something.

Hi Billy, there is 3 revisions of main PCB which all flash.

I have had in total 5 faulty mains PCB's in the last 3 years.

Take it from me Billy I import and export Vantec Enclosures to European distributers and there does not seem to be any problems.

As you know it could be a faulty batch of components used in the assembly run of a small batch as you say. But there is a bigger picture. I have sent you an email.

Just like the BU40N Hitachi have now corrected the problem with circular scratches which does not happen any longer.

Do what you think best on your topic thread no harm done.

Kind Regards

Asmcom

[strat]

Hi all!

I'm new here and just got to ripping my BluRay collection. I bought an archgon drive with BU40N in it. I tried following this guide and downloaded MartyMcNuts GUI SDF tool v1.3.1 along with "The all you need firmware pack" but for some reason I'm not able to get flashing to work. Even though I'm getting "Done succesfully. Please wait...".



Then I open MakeMKW and stil see this:



And when I try to read UHD disk:

Error 'Scsi error - ILLEGAL REQUEST:COPY PROTECTION KEY EXCHANGE FAILURE - KEY NOT PRESENT' occurred while issuing SCSI command A40..002000800 to device 'SPTI:\Device\CdRom0'
Error 'Scsi error - ILLEGAL REQUEST:COPY PROTECTION KEY EXCHANGE FAILURE - KEY NOT ESTABLISHED' occurred while issuing SCSI command AD010..080002400 to device 'SPTI:\Device\CdRom0'
Can't read AACS VID from disc - most likely current AACS host certificate is revoked by your drive
Saved AACS dump file as C:\Users\asd/.MakeMKV/MKB20_v61_Blade_Runner-_The_Final_Cut_81C9.tgz
LibreDrive compatible drive is required to open this disc - video can't be decrypted.
Failed to open disc

Any tips or help? I've tried couple of other firmwares that I thought could be a match, restarted the programs and my PC couple of times but the result is the same. Good thing is that I haven't bricked anything yet.. I even tried BH14NS40_N1.00-A4_patched.exe flasher but that always gives me "checksum is mismatched drive will go to boot mode" message and doesn't even start the process.

Thanks already in andvance!

[horze]

Hey guys, just after a little advice.
Going to purchase a few blue ray drives for my main PC and HTPC, which i will flash
Just after recommendation of which of the 3 drives would be best to get in terms of capability and build quality

Looking at the ASUS BW-16D1HT-PRO, LG BH16NS55, WH16NS60

thankyou in advance

[MartyMcNuts]

Hi all!

I'm new here and just got to ripping my BluRay collection. I bought an archgon drive with BU40N in it. I tried following this guide and downloaded MartyMcNuts GUI SDF tool v1.3.1 along with "The all you need firmware pack" but for some reason I'm not able to get flashing to work. Even though I'm getting "Done succesfully. Please wait...".



Then I open MakeMKW and stil see this:



And when I try to read UHD disk:

Error 'Scsi error - ILLEGAL REQUEST:COPY PROTECTION KEY EXCHANGE FAILURE - KEY NOT PRESENT' occurred while issuing SCSI command A40..002000800 to device 'SPTI:\Device\CdRom0'
Error 'Scsi error - ILLEGAL REQUEST:COPY PROTECTION KEY EXCHANGE FAILURE - KEY NOT ESTABLISHED' occurred while issuing SCSI command AD010..080002400 to device 'SPTI:\Device\CdRom0'
Can't read AACS VID from disc - most likely current AACS host certificate is revoked by your drive
Saved AACS dump file as C:\Users\asd/.MakeMKV/MKB20_v61_Blade_Runner-_The_Final_Cut_81C9.tgz
LibreDrive compatible drive is required to open this disc - video can't be decrypted.
Failed to open disc

Any tips or help? I've tried couple of other firmwares that I thought could be a match, restarted the programs and my PC couple of times but the result is the same. Good thing is that I haven't bricked anything yet.. I even tried BH14NS40_N1.00-A4_patched.exe flasher but that always gives me "checksum is mismatched drive will go to boot mode" message and doesn't even start the process.

Thanks already in andvance!

Yep, the new 1.02 version is encrypted. Just click the ✖ to toggle the encryption mode to ✔. You should then be able to complete the flash.

[echeekeep33]

Hi Billy

I can confirm that the Vantec NST-536S3-BK and the new model NST-540S3-BK (DX2) both flash no problems.

I have receipt of the new prototype and it flashes too.

As you know my wholesale company is the European distributer for these Enclosures.

They have a full 2 year RMA warranty and if it does not rip it can be replaced.

Please do not move to unsupported for flashing.

Kind Regards

Asmcom

Happy New Year Billy.

Keep up your brilliant work

not really sure what to do i have conflicting info i sent a remote flash kit out to one guy with it and it did not work and 2 guys here say it also does not flash.
my automated flasher returned this error on the cases
Desktop drive handshake failed with error=0x82000000, trying slim drive handshake...

Write flags NG 05/24/00

Command produced error code 0x8f052400
i know the old one works but maybe there is a batch in the middle between old and new that does not flash when they were switching chips or something.

I also got the "Desktop drive handshake failed with error=0x82000000, trying slim drive handshake..." error with a 536S3-BK that I got last week.

Additionally, I would like to report that the Unitek Y-1039 USB to sata cable does not seem to support optical drives anymore. I just got one this week and neither of my PCs were able to recognize my WH16NS60 using it. It looks like Unitek has removed any indication that the Y-1039 supports optical drives from their website, and at least one recent Amazon review has come to the same conclusion.

I have ordered a Unitek Y-3324 and I am hoping I have better luck with that!

[MartyMcNuts]

Yup, went direct to sata and sure enough I was able to flash down to 1.02 with the SDFtool Flasher, definetly an issue with the enclosure for flashing. I am new to this ripping scene, but I will try a 4k rip with and without the enclosure and see how that goes.

ok i will defiantly move the Vantec to the no flashing section i will have to see more reports about the 1099 i will put a question mark on that one

I haven't been able to get the Y-1099's for a few months now. Maybe they were changing something in them.... I do have a couple of new Unitek Y-3324 adapters that I recieved a couple of weeks ago. I'll test them over the next couple of days to make sure they work for flashing and report back.

@Billycar11, just letting you know that the Unitek Y-3324's still work fine for flashing. This might be the only model left that stilll works!!

[Billycar11]

@Billycar11, just letting you know that the Unitek Y-3324's still work fine for flashing. This might be the only model left that stilll works!!

Ok thanks when I'm on desktop I will add it if it not there

[strat]

Yep, the new 1.02 version is encrypted. Just click the ✖ to toggle the encryption mode to ✔. You should then be able to complete the flash.

A huge thanks, that did the trick! I thought about it but I couldn't find my fw from the encrypted list and was affraid of the warnings.