How to lock a hard drive partition and make it read-only

[paulhammerling]

I intend to buy a new hard drive in the next few days to replace my old Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400 GB hdd. I would like to know how I can:

1. Lock the drive
This is to use it only when needed so that it has a longer life-span before it fails. I am thinking it's the same as removing it (ideally, but that would be too much of a hassle to plug it in and out each time) but correct me if I'm wrong.

2. Make it read-only
This is to minimise the chance that a virus gets in the drive. I wouldn't want to have to re-scan a drive that is used less frequently with my anti-virus each time I do my regular scans. It would be useful during the times when it's not locked and I can read a file from it (no need to write) or copy from it.

I'm guessing there's a program to do both. Any suggestions?

 

[stefo]

As for read only, i came across a 2 solutions that involves hardware. certain RAID controller card can switch the hdd to read-only mode. but it is very rare. without looking into forensic hdd stuff, here's a few ideas.

use windows administrative control. remove the "write". right-click on the partition volume (say F drive) >> properties >> security tab

try that. u need to explore windows privileges & rights control.

 

[paulhammerling]

Nice! The Properties -> Security Tab seems like it's going to work. Though I'd prefer something more... "universal". A bit like the read-only switch on a floppy. I don't think that an hdd has that though. For example, if I use a linux OS, I'd have to re-set the settings there.

Thanks for the input. A program that can set an overall permission would be preferred.