- How To Make A Disk Readable Sd Card
- How To Make A Disk Readable Disk
- How To Make A Disk Readable Software
- How To Make A Disk Readable
There are two ways to make a USB stick read only. One way is a universal solution and is 100% permanent, the other way is PC specific and a good deterrent. When we say 100% permanent, this means the USB stick is read only (write protected) on all computers, whether it be a Mac, PC, Linux, etc type computer, the USB is read only and the status cannot be changed. The other method flags a USB device to be read only in relationship to the PC it is connected to so that whenever that USB stick is connected to that computer, it makes the USB read only and blocks all write commands to the device.
Most times an IT manager or content owner wants the USB stick to be read only so the files cannot be deleted or formatted off the drive. Another reason for making a USB read only is for the original files to remain the same and blocks the ability for files to be changed or manipulated. Finally, it's smart to have USBs read only so that virus' don't jump onto the drive and possibly spread to other computers.
Sep 17, 2013 The process to create a Windows disk partition is a bit less obvious, but it can be done. In Linux and other operating systems, it's possible to have a read-only mount volume. Oct 29, 2015 But the dye they use has the same lifespan as any other quality dye based disk. So you're paying more for no extra life. I mark each Blu-ray disk I make of archived client work with the date they were made. When they reach the 10 year mark, I copy everything off and burn a new replacement disk. Nov 29, 2020 The target disk size should be larger than the used disk space on the source disk. Step 3: Choose a copy option between ' Fit partitions to entire disk ' and ' Copy partition without resizing '.
Let us start with the less permanent way because it's easier to do and doesn't require any specific hardware. You will need a Windows7 machine or higher. The Windows7 machine will have DiskPart utility which allows us to perform all sorts of cool things to flash drives, like setting write protection.
- Connect the USB to your Windows computer.
- To begin, go to your Windows Start and in the Search Field type “cmd�
This will run your Command prompt.
- Next, you will want to get to the C root of the Command prompt and if you are signed in as a user you can simply type cd this will get you back to the root of the C drive.
- Type DISKPART
- Type LIST DISK
Now you will need to find the USB stick connected to your PC. Most likely it's DISK 1
- We must select the device we want to change the attributes for, so type SELECT DISK 1
- To set the drive as read only, type ATTRIBUTES DISK SET READONLY
- DiskPart will confirm the attribute was sent and you can now type “EXIT
So what we did is make a registry entry in that Windows machine to always treat that flash drive as read only. As you can see this is a simple solution that is PC specific. In addition, if you get a registry cleaning tool like “USB Scrub� that utility will remove the registry entry we just made and the User can once again do anything they want to the drive.
Another nice and easy function to make a file more permanent is to set a file as Read Only. When a file on the USB stick is set to Read Only it blocks the User from deleting or formatting the drive. However, this only works on the PC so if the USB is put into a Mac or Linux box, they can do whatever.
Another easy way to make a USB drive Read Only is formatting the drive as NTFS. This is not recommended because the NTFS file system is what we call a ‘dynamic file system' and is always changing. Meaning, the User will need to Eject the drive, not just yank it out of the USB socket. If you decide to format as NTFS simply modify permissions so that All Users have just Read Access. The work around is a User modifying the permissions by Taking Ownership and setting Full Access again.
So what about those USB drives that are permanently read only? No matter what you do, on which computer, you cannot remove the read only setting? The answer is this: The read only setting was done at the controller level.
What this means specifically is the USB controller chip on the flash drive ‘controls' what happens to the data on the flash memory. One feature the controller can perform is to block the SCSI write command to the NAND memory. This is what makes the USB stick read only. The write command is blocked at the controller level. This means the setting is within the USB stick itself and is not dependent on the PC telling the User what it can and cannot do, but rather the device itself is telling the computer what it can and cannot do.
Unfortunately there is a very large number of USB controller manufacturers which all use their own set of commands to block the SCSI write command. With that said, there is no universal solution to set the read only attribute to all USB flash drives!
There is hope!
If you are reading this post you are probably trying to figure out how to make a set of flash drives read only for distribution or deployment them to a group of employees. You might even be looking for a way to turn on and off the write protection so you can remotely update software or installation files while keeping the drive read only the entire time. Wouldn't that be nice!
A vendor out there as a very slick solution. They offer the USB drives with the ability to turn on and off the read only setting through either a command line tool, so you can do it within your own application, or through a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The command line option means through your own software you can program when to unlock and lock the USB drive! This is an ideal solution for those who need to deploy USB sticks as read only devices, yet still want the ability to update the drive, remotely, without the user having to do anything. The command line tool is designed for any exe file to call out the right code to lock or unlock the drive and do this at the exact time and place your exe file wants to.
If you are not a programmer and want to turn on and off the read only setting with a click of a button through a GUI, there is also free software which comes with the drives to make those settings: see below.
Nexcopy offers the drives in both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 configurations and the capacity will range from the smaller 2GB drives to the very large 32GB+ sizes.
We found the Nexcopy website through this website: www.usbcopier.com which does a great job explaining USB read only, USB CD-ROM partitions and more.
Tags: nexcopy, Read Only, usb, Write Protect
Rich Gates
Disk Utility User Guide
You can use Disk Utility to create a disk image, which is a file that contains other files and folders.
Note: You can burn information to a CD or DVD using the Burn command in the Finder. See Burn CDs and DVDs.
Create a blank disk image for storage
A vendor out there as a very slick solution. They offer the USB drives with the ability to turn on and off the read only setting through either a command line tool, so you can do it within your own application, or through a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The command line option means through your own software you can program when to unlock and lock the USB drive! This is an ideal solution for those who need to deploy USB sticks as read only devices, yet still want the ability to update the drive, remotely, without the user having to do anything. The command line tool is designed for any exe file to call out the right code to lock or unlock the drive and do this at the exact time and place your exe file wants to.
If you are not a programmer and want to turn on and off the read only setting with a click of a button through a GUI, there is also free software which comes with the drives to make those settings: see below.
Nexcopy offers the drives in both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 configurations and the capacity will range from the smaller 2GB drives to the very large 32GB+ sizes.
We found the Nexcopy website through this website: www.usbcopier.com which does a great job explaining USB read only, USB CD-ROM partitions and more.
Tags: nexcopy, Read Only, usb, Write Protect
Rich Gates
Disk Utility User Guide
You can use Disk Utility to create a disk image, which is a file that contains other files and folders.
Note: You can burn information to a CD or DVD using the Burn command in the Finder. See Burn CDs and DVDs.
Create a blank disk image for storage
You can create an empty disk image, add data to it, then use it to create disks, CDs, or DVDs.
In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose File > New Image > Blank Image.
Enter a filename for the disk image, add tags if necessary, then choose where to save it.
This is the name that appears in the Finder, where you save the disk image file before opening it.
In the Name field, enter the name for the disk image.
This is the name that appears on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar, after you open the disk image.
In the Size field, enter a size for the disk image.
Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose the format for the disk:
If the disk image will be used with a Mac that has a solid state drive (SSD) and uses macOS 10.13 or later, choose APFS or APFS (Case-sensitive).
If the disk image will be used with a Mac with macOS 10.12 or earlier, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled).
If the disk image will be used with a Mac or Windows computer and is 32 GB or less, choose MS-DOS (FAT); if it's over 32 GB, choose ExFAT.
To encrypt the disk image, click the Encryption pop-up menu, then choose an encryption option.
Click the Partitions pop-up menu, then choose a partition layout.
Click the Image Format pop-up menu, then choose an option:
Sparse bundle disk image: Same as a sparse disk image (below), but the directory data for the image is stored differently. Uses the .sparsebundle file extension.
Sparse disk image: Creates an expandable file that shrinks and grows as needed. No additional space is used. Uses the .sparseimage file extension.
Read/write disk image: Allows you to add files to the disk image after it's created. Uses the .dmg file extension.
DVD/CD master: Changes the size of the image to 177 MB (CD 8 cm). Uses the .cdr file extension.
Click Save, then click Done.
Disk Utility creates the disk image file where you saved it in the Finder and mounts its disk icon on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar.
In the Finder, copy your files to the mounted disk image, then eject it.
Restore the disk image to a disk.
For more information about disk image types, see the manual (man) page for hdiutil.
Create a disk image from a disk or connected device
You can create a disk image that includes the data and free space on a physical disk or connected device, such as a USB device. For example, if a USB device or volume is 80 GB with 10 GB of data, the disk image will be 80 GB in size and include data and free space. You can then restore that disk image to another volume.
In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, select a disk, volume, or connected device in the sidebar.
Choose File > New Image, then choose 'Image from [device name].'
Enter a filename for the disk image, add tags if necessary, then choose where to save it.
This is the name that appears in the Finder, where you save the disk image file before opening it.
How to format a drive in dos. Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose an option:
Read-only: The disk image can't be written to, and is quicker to create and open.
Compressed: Compresses data, so the disk image is smaller than the original data. The disk image is read-only.
Read/write: Allows you to add files to the disk image after it's created.
DVD/CD master: Can be used with third-party apps. It includes a copy of all sectors of the disk image, whether they're used or not. When you use a master disk image to create other DVDs or CDs, all data is copied exactly.
To encrypt the disk image, click the Encryption pop-up menu, then choose an encryption option.
Click Save, then click Done.
Disk Utility creates the disk image file where you saved it in the Finder and mounts its disk icon on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar.
Important: Don't create a disk image of a disk that you believe to be failing or that contains corrupted information. The disk image may not serve as a reliable backup.
For technical information about creating a restore disk image, see the Apple Software Restore (ASR) manual (man) page.
Create a disk image from a folder or connected device
You can create a disk image that contains the contents of a folder or connected device, such as a USB device. This method doesn't copy a device's free space to the disk image. For example, if a USB device or volume is 80 GB with 10 GB of data, the disk image will be 10 GB in size and include only data, not free space. You can then restore that disk image to another volume.
In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose File > New Image, then choose Image from Folder.
Select the folder or connected device in the dialog that appears, then click Open.
Enter a filename for the disk image, add tags if necessary, then choose where to save it.
This is the name that appears in the Finder, where you save the disk image file before opening it.
To encrypt the disk image, click the Encryption pop-up menu, then choose an encryption option.
Click the Image Format pop-up menu, then choose an option:
Read-only: The disk image can't be written to, and is quicker to create and open.
Compressed: Compresses data, so the disk image is smaller than the original data. The disk image is read-only.
Read/write: Allows you to add files to the disk image after it's created.
DVD/CD master: Can be used with third-party apps. It includes a copy of all sectors of the disk image, whether they're used or not. When you use a master disk image to create other DVDs or CDs, all data is copied exactly.
Hybrid image (HFS+/ISO/UDF): This disk image is a combination of disk image formats and can be used with different file system standards, such as HFS, ISO, and UDF.
Click Save, then click Done.
Disk Utility creates the disk image file where you saved it in the Finder and mounts its disk icon on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar.
How To Make A Disk Readable Sd Card
How to open a zip music file. For technical information about creating a restore disk image, see the Apple Software Restore (ASR) manual (man) page.
How To Make A Disk Readable Disk
Create a secure disk image
If you have confidential documents that you don't want others to see without your permission, you can put them in an encrypted disk image.
Note: If you want to protect the contents of the system disk, turn on FileVault using the FileVault pane of Security & Privacy Preferences.
How To Make A Disk Readable Software
In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose File > New Image > Blank Image.
Enter a filename for the disk image, add tags if necessary, then choose where to save it.
This is the name that appears in the Finder, where you save the disk image file before opening it.
In the Name field, enter the name for the disk image.
This is the name that appears on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar, after you open the disk image.
In the Size field, enter a size for the disk image.
Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose a format:
If you're using the encrypted disk image with a Mac computer using macOS 10.13 or later, choose APFS or APFS (Case-sensitive).
If you're using the encrypted disk image with a Mac computer using macOS 10.12 or earlier, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled).
Click the Encryption pop-up menu, then choose an encryption option.
Enter and re-enter a password to unlock the disk image, then click Choose.
WARNING: If you forget this password, you won't be able to open the disk image and view any of the files.
Use the default settings for the rest of the options:
Click the Partitions pop-up menu, then choose Single partition - GUID Partition Map.
Click the Image Format pop-up menu, then choose 'read/write' disk image.
Click Save, then click Done.
Disk Utility creates the disk image file where you saved it in the Finder and mounts its disk icon on your desktop and in the Finder sidebar.
In the Finder , copy the documents you want to protect to the disk image.
If you want to erase the original documents so they can't be recovered, drag them to the Trash, then choose Finder > Empty Trash.
When you're finished using the documents on the secure disk image, be sure to eject the disk image. As long as it's available on your desktop, anyone with access to your computer can use the documents on it.
How To Make A Disk Readable
To access the data in a disk image, double-click it. It appears on your desktop, and you can add, remove, and edit files on it just as you would with a disk.
