Agree, sounds like a faulty drive. You might be better off asking for a more modern product which is also more likely to be shipped as new; e.g. the LG BU20N, BU50N, etc.
BTW the DVD region code has absolutely no bearing in the drive's ability to detect or read a disc.
I am also amused by drive-OS interaction resulting in it being called a "BD-RW" drive. There is no such thing as "BD-RW" in common use. It is BD-RE...
My apologies for calling the drive a BD-RW. That's what it's called in the "Properties" dialog boxes (see the screen captures in my first post). However, I've changed the nomenclature in my title line to prevent confusion about the kind of hardware that I'm needing help on.
Thanks for your info on Region being unimportant.
Now... Anyone have more diagnostic information? I have narrowed the problem to the device itself, and the going opinion seems to be that ti's a bad drive. But given that it's new I'm thinking that the problem may be configuration rather than hardware.
I'm hoping that there's something that I can look at or try that will positively determine whether I need to buy a new drive to replace the new one sent from China. The return process took over a month and I don't want to go through that only to find that something was misconfigured with the drive that I already have.
None of my comments were intended as personal criticism, please don't think that. I believe the "BD-RW" is encoded in the "friendly name" for the device in the drive's firmware, and Windows is just picking that up.
If you want to do some more troubleshooting, one easy (and not too expensive) way to do so is to test the drive on another computer. This is done by putting it into an external enclosure which has a SATA-to-USB bridge chipset, making it a portable USB peripheral. Assuming from the specs that it's a 9.5mm drive, here is a sample product:
NST-510S3-BK - Vantec Thermal Technologies
There are zillions of similar products or, if you want to go even simpler, USB-to-SATA cables which use the same electronics, and have the unique SATA connector used on slimline optical drives:
Robot Check
This is an arbitrary product example; no specific endorsement, just to put the required specs out there.
I also vote for the drive being bad. I would return the drive for a refund if you can. Buy another more modern drive from a different seller.
Did you ever try a different SATA signal cable just to rule that put as an issue?
The first image posted does show the SATA connections, one power and one data, used on ODDs, HDDs and SSDs, can also use available adapters with cable to plug into other computers. Another example is the 2.5" and 3.5" drives are the same spacing, can plug either into the same docking station useful for managing the drives.
An example of the adapter I mentioned:
https://www.amazon.com/AGPtek-Drive-...64&s=pc&sr=1-7
I have saved a couple of those slim ODDs from junked Ultra SFF [Small Form Factor] computers, quite similar to the External USB ODDs I have on the shelf. Biggest difference is the small removable mounting bracket at the same end of the drive as the plugs.
EDIT: I have to apologize, the 5Volt socket on the drives I've saved is about 3/4 the size of the standard drive in Desktops, hadn't had occasion to measure it before.
Last edited by Berton; 20 Nov 2019 at 11:31.
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