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.
 

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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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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.
 

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Open Disk Management as Admin, right click where is says 'online' and select offline. Now the HDD won't even appear in File Explorer until you reverse the action.

offline.webp
 
Last edited:

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1740306204128.webp

I got this exact error when copying a lot of files from a NAS to my laptop over wifi. The laptop switched networks and the connection was lost. Were you tranferring over a network or just didk to disk?
 

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two Other systems

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Pro 25H2 26200.8894AMD Ryzen 7 5825U with Radeon Graphics16GB
    OS
    Windows 11 Pro 25H2 26200.8894
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acemagic LX15PRO
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 5825U with Radeon Graphics
    Motherboard
    BIOS CT_BI_AMI_LX15PRO_AB8139_A-004
    Memory
    16GB
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SSD 2TB
    Internet Speed
    30 Mbps
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete beta

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.2506Atom N450 1.66GHz2GB
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.2506
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Mini 210-1090NR PC (bought in late 2009!)
    CPU
    Atom N450 1.66GHz
    Memory
    2GB
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    Webroot
  • Acer Swift SF114-34 laptop
    OS Windows 11 Pro 26200.8894
    CPU Pentium Silver N6000
    RAM 4GB
    BIOS v1.17
    SSD Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB (an upgrade)
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