SDFtool Flasher

[MACKerMD]

So here I was, finally get into 4k UHD. So, got me an LG BH16NS55 (v1.05) with an ICY BoX 5,25" enclosure and looked up the info on here at MakeMKV. Grabbed the latest version of the utility and popped in a REGULAR BluRay. (Yes, I knew that if I'd flash the drive it would get rid of the sleeping-bug, but thought "if I just rip the disc and then play it later, I don't mind the extra ripping time"). So I tested it with normal BD50 movie. And that worked fine.

Ok, on to UHD, so bought me a pile of brandnew UHD 4k movies and wanted to archive these. But to my surprise, even tho the drive attempts to read the discs, the program keeps mentioning that no disc is inserted and then stops seeking the disc. So, I thought, maybe I have a faulty disc and let's pop in another one, because, I never had UHD before to play with. So I did, but this one also did not show up at all.

In order to at least 'read' the 4k UHD discs, I should be able to read them without flashing,
or do I really NEED to flash it with: " All You Need Firmware Pack (MartyMcNuts)\Internal Desktop Drives\DE_LG_BH16NS55_1.02.bin " or " All You Need Firmware Pack (MartyMcNuts)\Internal Desktop Drives\DE_LG_WH16NS60_1.02_MK.bin ".
OR do I need to use " The all you need firmware pack\LG 5.25 desktop\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin " ? And would this enable READING the UHD disc, because right now it does not even show the title of the UHD disc.

Drive Information
OS device name: R:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BH16NS55
Revision: 1.05
Serial number: ****************
Firmware date: 2120-06-18 13:42
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 12

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

It's getting confusing, since the drive is brandnew, does not make weird sounds (just the regular 'searching for media content sounds'; so no scratchy squeeky noises) and the drive seem so repond normally with regular BD; even AudioCDs.

What's wise .. please advise. Thank you

[Mr_Orange]

So here I was, finally get into 4k UHD. So, got me an LG BH16NS55 (v1.05) with an ICY BoX 5,25" enclosure and looked up the info on here at MakeMKV. Grabbed the latest version of the utility and popped in a REGULAR BluRay. (Yes, I knew that if I'd flash the drive it would get rid of the sleeping-bug, but thought "if I just rip the disc and then play it later, I don't mind the extra ripping time"). So I tested it with normal BD50 movie. And that worked fine.

Ok, on to UHD, so bought me a pile of brandnew UHD 4k movies and wanted to archive these. But to my surprise, even tho the drive attempts to read the discs, the program keeps mentioning that no disc is inserted and then stops seeking the disc. So, I thought, maybe I have a faulty disc and let's pop in another one, because, I never had UHD before to play with. So I did, but this one also did not show up at all.

In order to at least 'read' the 4k UHD discs, I should be able to read them without flashing,
or do I really NEED to flash it with: " All You Need Firmware Pack (MartyMcNuts)\Internal Desktop Drives\DE_LG_BH16NS55_1.02.bin " or " All You Need Firmware Pack (MartyMcNuts)\Internal Desktop Drives\DE_LG_WH16NS60_1.02_MK.bin ".
OR do I need to use " The all you need firmware pack\LG 5.25 desktop\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin " ? And would this enable READING the UHD disc, because right now it does not even show the title of the UHD disc.

Drive Information
OS device name: R:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BH16NS55
Revision: 1.05
Serial number: ****************
Firmware date: 2120-06-18 13:42
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 12

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

It's getting confusing, since the drive is brandnew, does not make weird sounds (just the regular 'searching for media content sounds'; so no scratchy squeeky noises) and the drive seem so repond normally with regular BD; even AudioCDs.

What's wise .. please advise. Thank you

Flash it to WH16NS60_1.02_MK.bin and you will be set. No sleep bug and best performance. I have the same drive flashed to the this firmware and it is rock solid.

[MartyMcNuts]

So here I was, finally get into 4k UHD. So, got me an LG BH16NS55 (v1.05) with an ICY BoX 5,25" enclosure and looked up the info on here at MakeMKV. Grabbed the latest version of the utility and popped in a REGULAR BluRay. (Yes, I knew that if I'd flash the drive it would get rid of the sleeping-bug, but thought "if I just rip the disc and then play it later, I don't mind the extra ripping time"). So I tested it with normal BD50 movie. And that worked fine.

Ok, on to UHD, so bought me a pile of brandnew UHD 4k movies and wanted to archive these. But to my surprise, even tho the drive attempts to read the discs, the program keeps mentioning that no disc is inserted and then stops seeking the disc. So, I thought, maybe I have a faulty disc and let's pop in another one, because, I never had UHD before to play with. So I did, but this one also did not show up at all.

In order to at least 'read' the 4k UHD discs, I should be able to read them without flashing,
or do I really NEED to flash it with: " All You Need Firmware Pack (MartyMcNuts)\Internal Desktop Drives\DE_LG_BH16NS55_1.02.bin " or " All You Need Firmware Pack (MartyMcNuts)\Internal Desktop Drives\DE_LG_WH16NS60_1.02_MK.bin ".
OR do I need to use " The all you need firmware pack\LG 5.25 desktop\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin " ? And would this enable READING the UHD disc, because right now it does not even show the title of the UHD disc.

Drive Information
OS device name: R:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BH16NS55
Revision: 1.05
Serial number: ****************
Firmware date: 2120-06-18 13:42
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 12

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

It's getting confusing, since the drive is brandnew, does not make weird sounds (just the regular 'searching for media content sounds'; so no scratchy squeeky noises) and the drive seem so repond normally with regular BD; even AudioCDs.

What's wise .. please advise. Thank you

Yep, must be flashed to be able to see UHD discs. The recommended firmware is DE_LG_WH16NS60_1.02_MK. Once flashed it will remove the sleep bug and read a little faster than the BH16NS55 firmware.

[MACKerMD]

Upon reading some older posts too, would it then still be possible to use other ripping tools, eg EAC, DVDFAB or restricts the support soley to MakeMKV ? Since, I'd like to use the drive also for other purposes

[MartyMcNuts]

Upon reading some older posts too, would it then still be possible to use other ripping tools, eg EAC, DVDFAB or restricts the support soley to MakeMKV ? Since, I'd like to use the drive also for other purposes

Yeah, MK firmware generally won't work with DVDFab. You should be ok to use EAC though.

If you want to also use DVDFab, then you should:

1. Flash the drive to WH16NS60 1.02-MK
2. Flash to either BH16NS55 1.02 or WH16NS60 1.00 (recommended)

Step 1 is the same as before as flashing to this firmware will remove the original firmware encryption, thus allowing further firmware changes if needed.

In step 2, I have provided the 2 best alternative firmware versions for your BH16NS55. Of the 2, I recommended using WH16NS60 1.00 as it still removes the sleep bug and reads faster than the BH16NS55 firmware.

[MACKerMD]

Thanks for the info/feedback/suggestions and guide.

I hope there's no limit in the ammount of flash-attempts [?!], for the time being I flashed it with the DE_XXXXXXX-MK.bin but in case I want to use other ripping tools I'll keep the other firmwares at hand and handle your guide.

// MACKerMD

[MartyMcNuts]

Thanks for the info/feedback/suggestions and guide.

I hope there's no limit in the ammount of flash-attempts [?!], for the time being I flashed it with the DE_XXXXXXX-MK.bin but in case I want to use other ripping tools I'll keep the other firmwares at hand and handle your guide.

// MACKerMD

Yes there are limits but not sure exactly how many times a drive can be flashed. I had a drive that had been flashed multiple times (for testing purposes) and the last flash was permanent. No other flashing attempts would work.

You will be fine with a few flashes. Just get the drive on the best firmware for you and leave it.

[XTRProf]

Hi guys,

Just bought myself 2 Verbatim 43888 and is now at the crucial stage of flashing them to make them able to rip 4K Blurays as well as playable with all video player softwares without bricking the drives. All the details are in the screenshots and without having to carry on reading pages and pages of info on the intricacies of this flashing, in other words the shortcut, I just will ask a few questions and hopefully I'm straight away on my way to ripping and be done with. Of course, reading the rest when I have the time to do so. The screenshots show what I have done and getting myself ready before pressing the START buttton. Please confirm what I have inputted in the flasher are correct.


Questions

(1) Does the flasher auto detect it's an encrypted firmware like the LG 1.05 and so we don't need to do anymore things like stating it's encrypted?

(2) What's the purpose of the READ in the flasher when it's basically WRITE that's most will be interested in?

(3) RECOVERY Mode? Purpose? Wow, sounds like we can brick the drive and have to take extra precautions.

(4) What's the purpose of having LG BU40N version 1.00 and 1.03 MK? I thought the larger number version will always have the least bugs?


Await your clarifications on these questions before pressing the flasher START button. Thanks everybody here for the hard work done for us to use successfully.



Chong


PS: The last screenshot will be next as cannot attached more than 3 screenshots here.

[XTRProf]

The last screenshot here.

[MartyMcNuts]

Hi guys,

Just bought myself 2 Verbatim 43888 and is now at the crucial stage of flashing them to make them able to rip 4K Blurays as well as playable with all video player softwares without bricking the drives. All the details are in the screenshots and without having to carry on reading pages and pages of info on the intricacies of this flashing, in other words the shortcut, I just will ask a few questions and hopefully I'm straight away on my way to ripping and be done with. Of course, reading the rest when I have the time to do so. The screenshots show what I have done and getting myself ready before pressing the START buttton. Please confirm what I have inputted in the flasher are correct.


Questions

(1) Does the flasher auto detect it's an encrypted firmware like the LG 1.05 and so we don't need to do anymore things like stating it's encrypted?

(2) What's the purpose of the READ in the flasher when it's basically WRITE that's most will be interested in?

(3) RECOVERY Mode? Purpose? Wow, sounds like we can brick the drive and have to take extra precautions.

(4) What's the purpose of having LG BU40N version 1.00 and 1.03 MK? I thought the larger number version will always have the least bugs?


Await your clarifications on these questions before pressing the flasher START button. Thanks everybody here for the hard work done for us to use successfully.



Chong


PS: The last screenshot will be next as cannot attached more than 3 screenshots here.

1. yes
2. It allows you to save the important cal data from the drive
3. pretty hard to brick a drive. more used for silly people that manage to flash older, incompatible drives and also to cross-flash the BP50/WP50NB40
4. MK firmware generally only works with MAkeMKV and xreveal. The firmware's generally don't have bugs and version changes usually only offer disc writing updates. As far as ripping UHD is concerned, newer firmware is usually not better!

You should flash the drive with BU40N 1.03-MK first. You can leave it there or if you want to use a wider range of software, you can now flash it to BU40N 1.00 firmware.

[XTRProf]

Thanks Marty for the confirmation. After your authentication, now to go "nuclear" START at version 1.03 MK first. Target Verbatim 43888 coordinates. Heh, heh, heh .........

[XTRProf]

So very very happy!

Thanks very much, Marty. Cheerio!


Chong

[XTRProf]

Sorry for this noob question. Does the firmware 1.03 MK or in fact any jail broken firmwares make the drive now region free at least for DVDs. I know blurays and UHD blurays lately no such constraint on the number of region changes that can be made limited to 5 before the drive being locked into the last done region.

Thanks for any clarification.


Chong

[XTRProf]

Sorry. Try to flash my second Verbatim 43888 but there is an error code message. How come?

Thanks.


Chong

[Billycar11]

Sorry. Try to flash my second Verbatim 43888 but there is an error code message. How come?

Thanks.


Chong

Take the disc out man