Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2023

[ubuntuuser]

> If Windows detects the drive, you are good to go

Hmm, at least for me, who is not so experienced with Windows, it can be confusing. The drive was recognized by the device manager (hopefully translated correctly into English), but was not shown in the file manager. After a few restarts it took a while with the restart and then the drive was shown in the file manager. I think you have to patient and let the pc alone for a while before you do a restart.

[ubuntuuser]

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=22896
Check the "enc?" checkbox only if your drive has an encrypted firmware on it (see list of encrypted firmware below).

So Asus drives have no encrypted firmware?

Edit:
Sorry for my detailed questions, it is not so easy for me to try it out on the windows pc, because it is at another place. At the end I think I understood it now, and to be sure it would be nice to confirm, that I do not need to check encrypted with the BW-16D1HT. I need to download the fw-pack myself and use mk-firmware-pack-20200720/MK/ASUS/BW-16D1HT/ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.10-WM01601-211901041014.bin

[d00zah]

Sorry for my detailed questions, it is not so easy for me to try it out on the windows pc, because it is at another place. At the end I think I understood it now, and to be sure it would be nice to confirm, that I do not need to check encrypted with the BW-16D1HT. I need to download the fw-pack myself and use mk-firmware-pack-20200720/MK/ASUS/BW-16D1HT/ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.10-WM01601-211901041014.bin

- Windows 10 can be dodgey. You MIGHT need to 'right-click' on the MakeMKV icon & select "Run as administrator". I choose NOT to use 10, myself. YMMV

- Newer FWs are coming encrypted, but I do not believe 3.10MK is... NO 'enc'.

- Yes, you need to download the fw-pack yourself and use mk-firmware-pack-20200720/MK/ASUS/BW-16D1HT/ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.10-WM01601-211901041014.bin

[ubuntuuser]

You MIGHT need to 'right-click' on the MakeMKV icon & select "Run as administrator"

I want to clarify, I want to flash the drive with the Windows pc, but I do not want to do backups with Windows.

So SDFtool Flasher is a GUI which uses Makemkv? How can I run SDFtool Flasher with admin rights of Makemkv?

[ubuntuuser]

I think, this looks good, no need for admin rights when flashing:

Code: Select all

Laufwerksinformation
OS-Gerätename: /dev/sr0
Aktuelles Profil: BD-ROM
Produzent: ASUS
Produkt: BW-16D1HT
Revision: 3.10
Firmware-Datum: 2119-01-04 10:14
Markierungen der Bus-Verschlüsselung: 1F
Highest AACS version: 60

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 3.10
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

Thanks a lot for helping.

[d00zah]

You MIGHT need to 'right-click' on the MakeMKV icon & select "Run as administrator"

I want to clarify, I want to flash the drive with the Windows pc, but I do not want to do backups with Windows.

So SDFtool Flasher is a GUI which uses Makemkv? How can I run SDFtool Flasher with admin rights of Makemkv?

'Right-click' on 'sdftool_flasher.exe' & select "Run as administrator", but it seems you've already succeeded. Enjoy!

[ubuntuuser]

Are there any silent / automatic / forced updates known using Windows? Windows makes updates if you want or not, can the dirve be updated with firmware automatically and you don't notice it as user?

[Billycar11]

Are there any silent / automatic / forced updates known using Windows? Windows makes updates if you want or not, can the dirve be updated with firmware automatically and you don't notice it as user?

no

[kaengu.ru]

Hi,

I'm about to buy my first drive in order to archive my UHD collection. I was reading this thread and with all the information I'd like to get an advice on which drive, from the initial post, I should go for/avoid.

I was about to buy the Asus BW-16D1HT Retail drive but it seems like it will be shipped w/ the 3.03 Firmware. Any thought on this? I prefer a 5.25 internal drive but I'm open for different formats if it's more beneficial.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers

PS: Awesome work guys, I really appreciate all the work you put into this community!

edit: I might should specify that I'm searching in the EU area; which might make a difference for some devices. Further I'm not interested in doing anything with the drive but archiving the disc via makemkv; no need for dvdfab, etc.

[mino444]

Is a UHD drive still necessary if the protection system has been cracked?

I am wondering as I have 2 of the Asus drives and the second one has just broke on me (first one broke last year) and really don't want to be giving my money over again to Asus for a shit drive. These were new in Feb of 2019 and have barely been used. Also trying to get Asus to honour the warranty is nay on impossible, I have tried and they are just knobs.

Do I really still need one of these drives in 2020 when the protection has been cracked? I see the design is 7 years old on most of them also.

[Woodstock]

Yes, the drive has to be able to read the format. Just as a CD drive cannot read DVDs, you cannot read a UHD disk if the drive isn't UHD-capable.

[uhd noob]

This Guide Is Made By: Billy/Billycar11, Alex/jonghotti, MartyMcNuts, Blackened2687, d00zah, mike admin, SamuriHL, st4evr, TeddyRaspin and Woodstock
Even if they didn't contribute directly i have used their information

...

All of these drives will need to be flashed to unlock UHD Reading/Ripping

...
ASUS BW-16D1HT, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25
...

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Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
...

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

All UHD Friendly drives have the sleep bug, this is when a UHD disk is left idle in the drive for 2 minutes. Once the drive goes to sleep, the UHD Friendly drive will no longer be able to read the disk without opening and closing the disk tray and will make horrible seeking noises until this is done.

Sleep Bug Fix:

To fix the sleep bug on a UHD Friendly drive flash firmware from an UHD Official drive like WH16NS60 DE 1.00 or 1.01MK

IMPORTANT Before you flash:

1. Make sure your Drive was built after 2015
2. Drive Platform MT1959<Most important
3. SVC NS50+ LG only
4. Just because your drive is the same model number does not mean it will work, if you are unsure ask me i offer remote flashing and check everything before i flash.
5. Dont flash your dive if it does not meet these requirements if you do you will be unable to read all disks and unable to restore without dosflash that does not work on most modern computers

Crossflashing:

...

Hi all. 1st: thanks for this guide/forum. very useful and informative. 2nd just some quick general feedback from a recent exchange.

FYI: I recently purchased an ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.10 OEM and began to fix it.

1. I was under the impression from the guide that "patching a newer OEM wouldn't be easy". However it was very easy seeing how there is a patched update (which then allows it to be downgraded/patched just as easily). Unfortunately I skipped over that because I was under the impression that you had to do a bunch of side stuff first.

2. BTW I tried to do it the harder way by following the guide on how to downgrade official firmware via powershell commands, etc.. with no luck.

3. After realizing (maybe this could be made clearer in the guide) that new OEM firmware is easily updated with a patched version I began to test various older OEMs and patched versions to observe results.

4. I did notice throughout tests that i was getting some weird noises and random behavior, which sounded like a sleep bug side effect. not clear on how the best avoid that, but no major problems at first.

5. later i did run into a 50% timeout error something like "Error 'OS error - {Device Timeout} The specified I/O operation on hs was not completed before the time-out period expired' occurred while reading '/BDMV/STREAM/00000.m2ts' at offset '32988721152'" which seems to occur on most available firmwares both OEM and patched. (this is a brand new disc, not scratched or dirty, and was able to be ripped a couple of times) this problem seems to be when ripping 4K UHDs and less with ripping 1080p blurays.

my best results seem to happen when using an older OEM firmware, though it's not yet confirmed. so far i've only tested one disk, so i will report back after multiple tests.

[uhd noob]

Hi,

I'm about to buy my first drive in order to archive my UHD collection. I was reading this thread and with all the information I'd like to get an advice on which drive, from the initial post, I should go for/avoid.

I was about to buy the Asus BW-16D1HT Retail drive but it seems like it will be shipped w/ the 3.03 Firmware. Any thought on this? I prefer a 5.25 internal drive but I'm open for different formats if it's more beneficial.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers

PS: Awesome work guys, I really appreciate all the work you put into this community!

edit: I might should specify that I'm searching in the EU area; which might make a difference for some devices. Further I'm not interested in doing anything with the drive but archiving the disc via makemkv; no need for dvdfab, etc.

i just bought one (it shipped with 3.10, btw) and can confirm that it works and was very easy to patch. only encountered a minor glitch so far, but that might be disc related? not sure yet.

from what i've heard, including a person who sells/patches these drives, the asus is one of the better quality models.

but ive only been using mine for about a week. so for whatever that is worth...

[Jaaaaanobert]

Hello everyone,

This may be kind of offtopic but today my ASUS BW-16D1HT drive arrived, with all these instructions, tools and firmwares it was very easy to flash it and make it LibeDrive compatible. Everything is working fine. I want to thank you all for this great work and help!

[fordprefect]

Since I learned today that my Pioneer BD-RW BDR-XD06U doesn't work with UHD and maybe never will, I want to use my BW-16D1HT from my obsolete HTPC via an Y-1039 as external drive.

Currently the drive is still in my libreelec system. I ran lshw to get some information about it.

Code: Select all

description: DVD-RAM writer
             product: BW-16D1HT
             vendor: ASUS
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/cdrom
             logical name: /dev/sr0
             version: 3.01
             capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
             configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

But I didn't get whether this drive now meets the requirements listed on the section before you flash. Also I don't know whether the section regarding sleep bug means I should flash this specific firmware before the 3.10MK.

Is it possible to flash the firmware under linux?