Error message

[MKVFactory]

Almost always, connection errors are power related. MakeMKV can spin drives pretty fast to try to get the maximum rip speed and sometimes the drive exceeds the available power when powered by USB.

It is less likely, but it could also be a bad USB cable, or port, or hub. Is your drive plugged directly into your computer?

I already replaced the USB cable and the ports are fine. I also monitored the power and it seemed to be ok with what the Macbook can provide.
Let's suppose I'm wrong on one of the points, why does the Mac stops recognising it randomly? Any idea?

[dcoke22]

I already replaced the USB cable and the ports are fine. I also monitored the power and it seemed to be ok with what the Macbook can provide.
Let's suppose I'm wrong on one of the points, why does the Mac stops recognising it randomly? Any idea?

What drive do you have and how is it powered?

When your computer stops recognizing the drive if you shutdown MakeMKV, unplug the drive, plug the drive back in, and start MakeMKV, does it recognize the drive?

As a side note, the System Report on your Mac can tell you what it thinks is plugged into the USB busses on your computer.

[MKVFactory]

I already replaced the USB cable and the ports are fine. I also monitored the power and it seemed to be ok with what the Macbook can provide.
Let's suppose I'm wrong on one of the points, why does the Mac stops recognising it randomly? Any idea?

What drive do you have and how is it powered?

When your computer stops recognizing the drive if you shutdown MakeMKV, unplug the drive, plug the drive back in, and start MakeMKV, does it recognize the drive?

As a side note, the System Report on your Mac can tell you what it thinks is plugged into the USB busses on your computer.

I have a LG BP06LU11 and it's powered by USB only. Ok I have to be precise: If I shutdown MakeMKV, unplug it and plug it again the Mac recognises it but not in a way that MakeMKV or VLC could work with it. In my System Report it's still listed as the same portable drive as before, but the drive is not initiating the reading process and then the title of the disc isn't displayed in the System Report (which it is normally) and MakeMKV or the Disk Utility Programme don't even see it at all. This goes for some hours and then the drive suddenly starts the reading process again and everything is fine. Sometimes I have to wait for the next day. Sounds stupid but that's how it is.

[dcoke22]

The internet says a LG BP06LU11 has a mini-USB 2.0 port on the drive and that it came with a USB 2.0 Y-type cable (with 2 USB A plugs).

When a rip fails and you unplug the drive are you immediately plugging it back in or are you waiting 10 or 15 seconds before you plug it in?

Are you plugging in both connectors? Are you plugging them into your Mac or into a USB hub? If a USB hub, is that hub powered (does it have its own power supply)?

With some regularity on this forum, people ask about situations like you've described. Most of the time their drive is an external USB powered drive with a Y-type cable and they've only got one plug plugged in. Once they plug in both plugs, their problems go away.

[MKVFactory]

Hey dcoke22,

thanks for your reply and effort! I have a Y-type cable that is directly plugged into my mac with both connectors. I got the fealing that the issue has more to do with my drive getting lost while trying to read some hard-to-read parts of the Bluray (a common problem that the MKV website also refers to). When I cleaned the respective Bluray intensively I often got better results. What I still don't know is what caused the problem to appear. I ripped around 50 Blurays before the problem appeared for the first time, many of them second hand with no cleaning before. And now all the Blurays that I buy are suddenly too dirty…?!
And whether I wait some time or I plug it back directly doesn't matter, the drive won't start the reading process, I tried both.

Now have yourself a good weekend!

[MKVFactory]

The issue is solved!
I always trusted the LG drive and so I started to suspect the SATA-PCI Controller to be faulty. I bought a new one, changed it (I had to do some adjustmens on the case) and now it's working perfectly. No issues of not being recognised anymore. The drive is now 11 years old, people with similar problems might consider looking at this part of the hardware, too.

[RaphaelLouis]

Pretty much - the drive goes into "don't bother me, kid, I'm working here" mode, and the operating system throws a tantrum (error).

Unfortunately, with the acquisition of a newer LG drive for UHD work, I'm starting to see these errors myself. The new drive seems to be so anxious to get the data that it forgets to talk to the operating system. I had thought they were limited to power problems on USB, but the drive firmware can cause it, too.

(and no, I haven't reflashed from the factory)

This explains everything. THANKS! R.

[RaphaelLouis]

Pretty much - the drive goes into "don't bother me, kid, I'm working here" mode, and the operating system throws a tantrum (error).

Unfortunately, with the acquisition of a newer LG drive for UHD work, I'm starting to see these errors myself. The new drive seems to be so anxious to get the data that it forgets to talk to the operating system. I had thought they were limited to power problems on USB, but the drive firmware can cause it, too.

(and no, I haven't reflashed from the factory)

Have you continued to encounter IPC errors with your LG drive since this post in Jul-2018, Woodstock? I recently purchased the OWC Mercury Pro Blu-Ray enclosure (LG WH16NS40 drive, v1.03 firmware) and have been getting a lot of IPC errors during Blu-Ray rips (but not during DVD rips). The drive has its own power supply, so I don't think I'm experiencing power availability issues. I'm finding the IPC errors start at seemingly random offsets on a given disc, and it's coming up during a high percentage of rips (probably >50% of BR discs attempted; n=20 or so), so I don't think it's an issue of disc quality either. Really just seems like the drive and Mac OS X stop talking to each other mid-rip. By the time MakeMKV generates a rip failure error message, checking the status of the drive in Finder reveals that it is no longer mounted by the OS.

At this point, I'm not sure if I should: (i) Try to get OWC to send me a different drive, (ii) Try to modify the drive's firmware, (iii) Contact Apple to to see if this is a hardware issue with the 2018 Mac Mini I'm using, or (iv) Something else?

In my case, I figured out exactly what was happening. Because MakeMKV has the [SAFE] flag, and having tried 3 times before to rip the same exact disc, I knew exactly when the problem was happening. I knew the minute and approximate second the problem would manifest itself. Then, I disconnected all other peripherals connected to all my other USB ports that could be using energy, and watched the rip like a hawk for the exact moment it was meant to happen... And, it turns out it was exactly when the drive is switching from the first layer on the BD to the second one. I knew this because I could see how much data had been read, and it was right around the 25GB mark, when the DL BD runs out of space on the first layer. This time, possibly because I had made sure all USB power to the ports are dedicated to the drive, when the time came, I heard the drive slowing down and struggling a bit, as it was trying to switch layers, the [SAFE] flag came on, and this time the rip was successful (4th attempt, same disc). So, there you go folks.

Now, I would suggest "documentation" is better on this issue. Actually, although it's great to have the forums, I would very much like to see well put together documentation and a manual for MakeMKV. The forums are long... Difficult to find what I need most times... Charge more for it if necessary, hire a professional talented technical writer to create both the documentation as well as the manual. Just my two cents. (Yes, I did pay for my license. The money is well deserved, and it should be more than what I paid for. When times are better on my side, I'll try and donate more.)

Cheers guys. R.

[noworries1968]

Same errors here....
Also getting identical time sync error on every 4K rip, same addresses and same time sync offset...~18ms