[Wylug-help] Readonly option in hdparm

[James Holden]

Thomas, Nicholas wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Not really a linux question, but, Is it possible to make a hard disk drive
> readonly?
> I want to create a hard drive which cannot be re-formatted, or change any of
> the data on any partitions.
> I suppose I mean a read-only hard drive. It would be similar to having one
> of those a TABs on a floppy diskettes.
>
> I have been messing with the -r option to hdparm. This does appear to do
> what I want, but the readonly status is lost after a reboot.
>
> If this is not possible with a conventional hard drive, is it possible with
> a compact flash card + IDE adaptor?
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Regards
>
> Nick

Nick,

I have come across SCSI hard disks with a read-only jumper. If you can
do this with the drive you have, I'd imagine it'd be the same. Check the
specs for the drive. I've never seen a jumper like this on an IDE drive
though.

James