How to Write-Protect a USB Drive

Today USB drives come in all shapes and sizes, but how do you protect your data from accidental erasure? OK, so you have those important files on your USB drive but how do you protect them from accidental erasure or unauthorized changes?

Some drives are easy, they come with a lock/unlock switch, but what about those that don't?
There is a way to write protect your data on a USB drive to make it read only and I will show you how.

Things You'll Need:

Computer
USB drive

Step 1

Click on your start button and type the following into your search box or
go to the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl

Now you need to take a close look at the sub-key directory to see if there is a key named StorageDevicePolicies.

Step 2

If you find the above directory there skip go to step 3.

If the above, is not there then you will need to create the key by right-clicking, then select Control and then select New > Key See if there is an entry named WriteProtect. If it is not there it can be easily created by right-clicking in the right window and then selecting New > DWord from the menu. The values below are the allowed values for this entry:

Step 3

* 0 – This will allow the write processes on USB flash drives
* 1 - This will block the write processes on USB Flash drives

A restart or log off is then required before the above changes can take effect. Resources
SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (SDCZ6-016G-A11, Retail Package)
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