OmniDrive

Copyright © 2026 Rib

Description

OmniDrive is a firmware modification for MediaTek MT1959-based optical disc drives manufactured by Hitachi-LG Data Storage that enables features that allow for better, more complete reading of discs, including proprietary game discs.

Features

• Lead-in/lead-out reading for CD/DVD/BD and derivatives.
• Raw sector reading for CD/DVD/BD and derivatives (2352 bytes/sector for CD, 2064 bytes/sector for DVD, 2072 bytes/sector for BD).
• Custom READ DISC RAW command to read discs, with flags for FUA (bypassing cache), raw addressing (MSF for CD, PSN for DVD/BD), and descrambling (for DVD/BD).
• The ability to read various proprietary game discs (see table):

Disc Type	Support	Notes
CD (ROM/R/RW)	☑️
DVD (ROM/RAM/±R/±RW)	☑️
BD (ROM/R/RE)	☑️
BD-XL (R/RE)	☑️
UHD-BD	☑️
PlayStation 3 BD-ROM	☑️	Disc contents are encrypted, disc key is not retrievable
PlayStation 4 BD-ROM	☑️	Disc contents are encrypted, disc key is not retrievable
PlayStation 5 BD-ROM	☑️	Disc contents are encrypted, disc key is not retrievable
Xbox (XGD1)	✅
Xbox 360 (XGD2/XGD3)	✅
Xbox One/Series (XGD4)	✅	Disc contents are encrypted, disc key is not retrievable
GameCube (NROM)/Wii (RVL-ROM)	✅
GameCube (NR)/Wii (RVT-R)	❓
Wii U (WUP-ROM?)	⚠️	Can be read as raw, but scrambling algorithm is currently unknown
Wii U (CAT-R)	☑️
Dreamcast (GD-ROM/GD-R)	❎	Only low-density area can be read

Key:

• ☑️ - Native Support (without patched firmware)
• ✅ - Supported with OmniDrive
• ⚠️ - Partial support (see notes)
• ❓ - Unknown support (needs testing)
• ❎ - Not currently supported

Building

Dependencies

• CMake
• ninja
• arm-none-eabi-gcc toolchain
• armips
• Python 3
• pycryptodome

Instructions

1. Put the stock LG BU40N 1.00 and ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.02 firmware files in the firmware folder. The files should be named the following and have the following checksums:

Filename	CRC32	MD5	SHA-1
HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BU40N_1.00.bin	E3C1A315	EDB28FCD7A239281ACE26A468D382A9C	9C48677B155154D24A3B95A32B4A29CA02FF40B3
ASUS_BW-16D1HT_3.02.bin	84000B21	97F0EEABD0B675B4363B2C4749226016	F8DF5B579F25DA8D4E5AA5EF79F3005DAC5EB8C7

2. Create a build folder and run cmake -G Ninja .. from the build folder.
3. Run ninja. The patched firmware files should be output in the patched_firmware folder.

Flashing

Currently the recommended method to flash the drives is to use sdftool which comes as part of MakeMKV. The BU40N firmware should work with all slim drives and the BW-16D1HT firmware should work with all desktop drives.