OT: USB stick with write protect switch?

[Colin Law]

2009/10/11 David N. Lombard <dnl at speakeasy.net>:
> Colin Law wrote:
>>
>> 2009/10/10 David N. Lombard <dnl at speakeasy.net>:
>>>
>>> Amedee Van Gasse (on Ubuntu mailing lists) wrote:
>>>>snip
>>>
>>> It's entirely possible some USB keys with r/o switches don't work
>>> reliably or can be circumvented.  But, as they say in Perl, TIMTOWTDI
>>> (there's more than one way to do it).  IOW, there's no "one-and-only"
>>> design for a r/o USB key.  In addition to hardware switches, I've also
>>> seen multiple-mount scenarios (first mount was r/w, unmount/remount
>>> within a small time window was r/o).
>>>
>>> Bottom line: *anybody* that *ever* claims some method *always* works is
>>> confused (never assign to malice what can be explained by ignorance).
>>
>> If the switch disables the write signal directly then it will be
>> impossible to write to the device.  Though there are still three ways
>> that I can think of that this method might still allow writing, one is
>> hardware failure (broken switch or similar), the second is
>> accidentally moving the switch (or maliciously I suppose) and the
>> third is Divine Intervention.  Whether this therefore counts as a
>> write protection method that *always* works is a matter of
>> interpretation.
>
> Just to clarify: I meant that if someone claimed to always be able to
> circumvent a USB stick's write protection, they were confused.  I completely
> agree that there are positive write protection schemes; I would be surprised
> if a switch-based scheme were to fail.
>

Ah yes, I see that now, sorry, I misunderstood.  So many emails to
read, so little time...

Colin