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Make a Thumbdrive Read-Only

 Keywords: USB Thumb drive read only 

Question:

I am going to distribute a few conference proceedings on loaner thumb drives and want to make sure that the loaners come back without viruses, or portions deleted.

Is there a way to make a USB thumbdrive totally read only to everyone, except myself who would be able to read write etc to the drive.

Normally we give out CD_ROM, so this is not an issue, but we have been getting requests on-site for a usb drive with the proceedings on it for those folks with tiny laptops without a CD reader.

Answer:

Although I don't think you can make a thumb drive read only, you can do the next best thing; fill the empty space with a file, and mark the file ReadOnly, Hidden, and System.

That last bit (System) ensures that only the most hard core nerd can find it, let alone delete it. The only way to see a System file in Windows Explorer is to clear the Hide Operating System Files check box on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog. In addition, clearing the System tag can't be done in Windows Explorer. The only way to clear that flag is with the ATTRIB command, which must be run from a DOS prompt.


Article ID:   W17940
Filename:   Make a Thumbdrive Read-Only.txt
File Created: 2009:10:15:08:52:14
Last Updated: 2009:10:15:08:52:14