Can I make my HDD "Read Only"?


L

lbeck

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Call me paranoid (and I guess I am). But I seem to have lost many random files over the past few months. So I've purchased a 5 TB HDD and placed my most important files on it. My intention is to disconnect the new "archive" from the Internet. The new HDD is disconnected now.

Problem is that I forgot to disconnect it for an hour or so and noticed the attached message. Even though I've transferred hundreds (maybe thousands) of files this afternoon I don't believe that I initiated the D->D transfers indicated. And I KNOW my transfers were faster than the 1.12 MB/s indicated.

So my question is in the title. Is there some way to render my archive HDD inaccessible to the ouutside and remove the read-only attribute only when I want to write to it (with the Internet disconnected!)

Thanks for your advice.
 

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I don't think there's an off-the-shelf app for this... but you can run a PowerShell command as Admin.
Code: 
C:>powershell "Set-Partition -DriveLetter E -IsReadOnly $true"

E:\>copy con: new.txt
^Z
The media is write protected.
        0 file(s) copied.

Code: 
C:\>powershell "Set-Partition -DriveLetter E -IsReadOnly $false"

E:\>copy con: new.txt
^Z
        1 file(s) copied.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Please see option two #6:

www.tenforums.com

Enable or Disable Disk Write Protection in Windows

How to Enable or Disable Write Protection for a Disk Drive in Windows
www.tenforums.com www.tenforums.com



Others that may be useful:

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Turn On or Off Write Protection for Removable Drives in Windows 10

How to Turn On or Off Write Protection for Removable Drives in Windows 10
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Set or Unset Read-only Attribute of Files and Folders in Windows 10

How to Set or Unset Read-only Attribute of Files and Folders in Windows 10
www.tenforums.com www.tenforums.com
 

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    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
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When your single disk has a single volume (drive letter), use this command:
Code: 
powershell "Set-Partition -DriveLetter E -IsReadOnly $true"
powershell "Set-Partition -DriveLetter E -IsReadOnly $false"

When your single disk has multiple volumes (drive letters), use this command.
Provide any one of the disk's drive letters, and it will update all of the volumes at the same time.
Code: 
powershell "(Get-Disk (Get-Partition -DriveLetter E).DiskNumber | Get-Partition).DriveLetter |% { Set-Partition -DriveLetter $_ -IsReadOnly $true }"
powershell "(Get-Disk (Get-Partition -DriveLetter E).DiskNumber | Get-Partition).DriveLetter |% { Set-Partition -DriveLetter $_ -IsReadOnly $false }"

Replace -DriveLetter E with whatever letter you have it currently mounted on.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Open Disk Management as Admin, right click where is says 'online' and select offline. Nor the HDD won't even appear in File Explorer until you reverse the action.

offline.webp
 

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    ASUS T100TA Transformer
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    System type 32-bit operating system, x64-based processor

    Edition Windows 10 Home
    Version 22H2 build 19045.3570
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    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.2506
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    HP Mini 210-1090NR PC (bought in late 2009!)
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    Atom N450 1.66GHz
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    2GB
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    Brave
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