@adogslife
No problem, you're welcome.
Yeah, it's not uncommon at all for the protection type and/or version to be different from one country to another.
One thing is pretty certain though, if SD v3.15.010 is giving the 52246s lite-on trouble, any version above that isn't going to be any better.
About your backup, if you use the virtual drive method I suggested, you pretty much do have a backup, not exactly what you wanted to have perhaps, but it's the next best thing and gets the job done.
Good luck.