LG WH14NS40 fw1.05

[Rufus280]

I recently bought a WH14NS40 specifically to make into an external/portable 4k ripper to bounce between my computers. I bought the OWC case for it, which from what I've read is approved for the patch process.

In the mean time, one of my old internal 12x burners died in one of my MacPros, so I decided to move my old 12x burner from my main MacPro over to 2nd MacPro. To replace this, I then purchased a WH16NS40 to mount internally in my main MP.

For now, I'm thinking I only want to patch the WH14NS40 in the OWC enclosure, but want to verify that at some future point I can patch the internal 16x as well. Since I must borrow a PC from someone to do the patching, I'd probably temporarily mount the 16x in the OWC enclosure to patch it, then reinstall it back in my main MacPro. Since I bought both units about a week apart, both have a factory firmware of 1.05.

Just want to make sure my "plan of action" is doable and I'm not missing anything. I read that the Flasher Tool/Firmware Pack will work with the factory 1.05 firmware, so I should be good to go once I find a PC to borrow. (Wish someone could make a Mac Flasher Tool)
I welcome any comments or suggestions....

[Rufus280]

Successfully patched my WH14NS40 using the WH16NS60 fw. Drive seems to be working fine, other than it now shows up as a WH16NS60, which is a bit confusing since I also have the unpatched WH16NS40 running internally. Very happy with the results. Thanks to all involved in getting this done.

Will hold off patching the WH16NS40 for now, until the 14x is fully tested.

Question: Since the 14x WH14NS40 is now patched to a WH16NS60, is it now a 16x or does it remain a 14x speed?

[dcoke22]

As I understand it, empirically, the WH16NS60 1.02 firmware is the least buggy and most likely to produce successful rips firmware for most LG hardware. It may be faster, but there are lots of scenarios where MakeMKV will choose to rip slower to increase the chances of a successful rip. For instance, MakeMKV usually slows down the rip when approaching a layer change on the disc.

MakeMKV drive speed control

[dcoke22]

Side note, it is possible to flash drives on macOS. You just have to do it via a Terminal window. Instructions are in the Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide

If you want to use the handy SDFtool GUI, then a Windows machine is needed.

[Rufus280]

Jump straight into the deep end of the pool today... I ripped a simple 4k movie last night, but started today by ripping TRANSFORMERS - THE LAST KNIGHT and got a "hashcheck" error at about the halfway point. At the time the drive was reading in the 7.5x range. I started over again on the same disc and now at about the same point of the error it's reading at about 4x, so it definitely slowed down on the second pass. Keeping my fingers crossed for a successful rip this time around.
When reading up on the "hashcheck" error, they insinuate the drive is dying, but the drive is a week old and TLK is only the second 4k disc in it.

[MartyMcNuts]

Jump straight into the deep end of the pool today... I ripped a simple 4k movie last night, but started today by ripping TRANSFORMERS - THE LAST KNIGHT and got a "hashcheck" error at about the halfway point. At the time the drive was reading in the 7.5x range. I started over again on the same disc and now at about the same point of the error it's reading at about 4x, so it definitely slowed down on the second pass. Keeping my fingers crossed for a successful rip this time around.
When reading up on the "hashcheck" error, they insinuate the drive is dying, but the drive is a week old and TLK is only the second 4k disc in it.

When you get hashcheck errors, the first thing to do is clean the disc. Just give it a good wipe with a microfiber cloth before trying to rip it again. 9 times out of 10 this usually works.

[Sunoo]

At least some of the time I can get past those by ejecting the disc and putting it back in. Most of the rest get solved by wiping the disc off. Any left over are typically damaged discs, but I think I’ve only had like 3 that fell into that category.

[Rufus280]

Thanks for the input. I went on to successfully rip the entire 5 disc set without another hiccup. Going to now shift gears to installing a NAS, since I need the storage space if I'm going to keep ripping. Patiently waiting for FedEX!!
Think I've decided to hold off on patching my WH16NS60 (internal in my MacPro) for now until I can fully test all scenarios. With the patched WH14NS40 in the external enclosure I can move it around from computer to computer, so I'll keep the WH16 native for now, but feel confident that if I decide to patch it too, it will go smoothly (as long as I can get my hands on a PC to do the deed... love the little app that reads, writes, recovers the fw).