External Bluray Drive - Fast for Ripping

[Allistah]

Hey all --

I'm having a really hard time location a good external drive for my 2015 Macbook Pro that can read Bluray discs that actually rips fast. The one I just bought stays in slow mode as if you were watching a movie. A friend bought the same drive a long while back and his is pretty fast - the drive actually spins up really quick and it rips much faster. I guess since I bought the exact drive long after he did, the current versions they're selling don't work well for this.

Does anyone know of a good external drive that can rip fast? I've spent hours searching and have come up empty handed.

Thanks for any leads anyone might have for me.

 

[HDFan]

The one I just bought stays in slow mode as if you were watching a movie.

Sounds as if it is ripping at 1X. What are you looking for? What is "fast" for you? What drive is it? What are its specifications?

 

[Allistah]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to reply - I really appreciate it. I asked my daughters husband what drive he uses and how fast it was so I bought the exact same thing from Amazon. It's just a some off-brand external slim Blu-ray player/burner that costs ~$95 with tax.

I got that drive and mine wouldn't rip fast at all. I updated the firmware on mine and everything and it just would run up to 2.5x with MakeMKV while reading and that was it.

I would take the disc out, put it into his drive, do the exact same thing and you could tell instantly that his drive spun up way faster, and ran up to 3x to start and then just continued to climb. Before the first minute was over, it was well over 5x ripping speed whereas the one I got just sat around 2.5x and creeped up to maybe 3.5x by the end of the disk.

This is the drive I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TM1SLHH which had this drive inside it:
MATSHITA BD-MLT UJ240AS 1.01. As I mentioned, I upgraded the firmware to v1.12 after spending hours searching for a solution and it didn't change anything. The drive that runs fast is this: MATSHITA BD-MLT UJ240ES 1.21. Looks like we have different revs of the same drive so I just gave up and started a return with Amazon.

Here is what I'd like: A Blu-ray Drive that could rip Blu-ray and DVD discs fairly quickly like his does - it shouldn't ramp up to 2.5x and halt there. It should spin up that disc and rip it. I would prefer if it was a smaller form factor like the one I tried above if I could find it. If it requires additional power, I'd be ok with that too - like having to plug in two USB ports so it could get enough power. This drive claimed to be an 8x DVD-ROM reader and it wouldn't even come close to that. If I could find a drive that ripped as it should without staying in the quiet, movie watching mode at around 2.5x, I think I'd be happy. I can get 2.5x from the original Superdrive that came in my 2012 MacBook Pro and save the ~$95.

I hope all that made sense. After all that, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

[HDFan]

Before the first minute was over, it was well over 5x ripping speed whereas the one I got just sat around 2.5x and creeped up to maybe 3.5x by the end of the disk.

How did you know it was ripping at 5x?

 

[Allistah]

How did you know it was ripping at 5x?

Other than MakeMKV telling me that, I have no idea.

 

[mcpix]

I ran into a somewhat similar problem. I bought this drive for burning Blu-ray Discs and so far it's worked great https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-BDR-...pioneer+bdr+xd-05&qid=1573453235&sr=8-1-fkmr1

I had a bunch of DVDs I needed to copy so I started using this drive and discovered that it wouldn't burn DVD-R discs any faster than 2x. I then plugged in my Apple external SuperDrive and it recorded at 5x speed on the same discs.

After doing a little research, I discovered that this drive has a feature called "Auto Quiet" that limits the drive speed to 2x and is turned on by default. There is a utility you can download that can turn this feature off. I haven't tried this yet, but maybe you are running into the same problem.

 

[Audit13]

Both drives are being used with makemkv, MacOS, and have the same firmware?

 

[Allistah]

Both drives are being used with makemkv, MacOS, and have the same firmware?

Well, they have slightly different hardware versions I think which is why his is faster and the new one I got is not. I'll have to keep searching I guess or maybe just get the Pioneer.

 

[Audit13]

Well, they have slightly different hardware versions I think which is why his is faster and the new one I got is not. I'll have to keep searching I guess or maybe just get the Pioneer.

If you decide to get another drive, I recommend getting a 5.25" UHD-friendly drive and placing it in a USB enclosure.

 

[Allistah]

Really.. You think it's worth it? Can you help me understand why I should go that route? I'll do it, I just want to know why it's important. I haven't bought hardware in so long, I'm a bit un-educated on why I should get something like that. I've also seen mentions of this UHD thing but not sure what it is exactly - could you help enlighten me on that? Do you have a drive in mind that you'd get if you were to do it all over again?

Are there any good slot drives or should I get a tray? drive. I'd like to put it on edge so it takes up less desk space but not sure if that excludes any "good" drives or if they're all tray types.

 

[Audit13]

UHD (Ultra High Definition) disc = 4k Blu-ray.

Many movies and some TV shows are released on 4k disc.

UHD/4k-friendly drives are able to rip DVD, 1080, and 4k Blu-ray using makemkv to produce a 1:1 duplicate.

I do not know of any slot-load UHD-friendly drives. Even if there was a UHD-friendly slot drive, I would still go with a tray load as they are more robust based on my personal use.

A list of UHD-friendly drives can be found on the makemkv forum.

 

[Allistah]

Ah ok, great - thanks for the info. When you rip a regular DVD disc with MakeMKV, what type of speeds are you getting to start with and where does it end up with? Seems like with the other drive I used it started around 3x, then ended up around 5-6x by the end. Is your drive faster than that or is that pretty typical for those type of discs?

 

[Audit13]

I use a Windows desktop with an old LiteOn internal SATA drive for 1080 Blu-ray discs.

I'm testing one now. It starts off around 2 MB/s (~0.5x) and runs steadily at 27 MB/s (~ 6x).

I'll test with my Air over USB and let you know my results.

 

[Allistah]

Awesome, thanks! Really appreciate you doing that for me. I’ll start hunting for a UHD drive and an enclosure.

 

[Audit13]

Peak rip speed for Star Trek Into Darkness 4k UHD was 6.1. Rip speed depends on the layer being read.

Hardware: early 2015 13" Air 8 GB Catalina 10.15.1

Vantec USB 2.0 5.25" Sata enclosure and LG Blu-ray drive.

 

[HDFan]

UHD/4k-friendly drives are able to rip DVD, 1080, and 4k Blu-ray using makemkv to produce a 1:1 duplicate.

4K rips require the firmware to be replaced on newer drives.

 

[Audit13]

4K rips require the firmware to be replaced on newer drives.

Yes, I forgot about that. I've had my drives for a while.

 

[ActionableMango]

Here is what I'd like: A Blu-ray Drive that could rip Blu-ray and DVD discs fairly quickly like his does

The problem you are experiencing is a "feature" called Riplock.

Riplock - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You are looking for a drive without Riplock, which can be difficult as it generally is not advertised, and reports are spotty. It can vary from mfr, model, and even firmware version. But most drives have it.

 

[Allistah]

I bought the BU40N drive. Works great, but yeah, it’s Riplocked. :-(
Anyone know of a slim drive that’s not riplocked?

 

[gugy]

Hi,
I am looking for a BR burner just to backup data. What solution would you suggest. I see a OWC at 16x write speeds. Anyone knows about this?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...ng_owcmr3ubdrw16_mercury_pro_16x_blu_ray.html