Applying Read or Write and Password Protection to Removable Media

You can apply read protection or write protection and set a password on Iomega media such as Zip drives and Jaz drives. For other types of media, you can enable or disable write protection without a password.

How to Enable or Disable Write Protection on Removable Media

1. Determine whether you want to enable or disable write protection and select one of the following:

   1. Enable write protection.

      $ rmformat -w enable device-name

   2. Disable write protection.

      $ rmformat -w disable device-name

2. Verify whether the media's write protection is enabled or disabled.

   $ rmformat -p device-name

How to Enable or Disable Read or Write Protection and a Password on Iomega Media

You can apply a password with a maximum of 32 characters for Iomega media that support this feature. You cannot set read protection or write protection without a password on Iomega media. In this situation, you are prompted to provide a password.

You receive a warning message if you attempt to apply a password on media that does not support this feature.

1. Determine whether you want to enable or disable read protection or write protection and a password.

   1. Enable read protection or write protection.

      $ rmformat -W enable device-name Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx Please reenter password:

      $ rmformat -R enable device-name Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx Please reenter password:

   2. Disable read protection or write protection and remove the password.

      $ rmformat -W disable device-name Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx

      $ rmformat -R disable device-name Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx

2. Verify whether the media's read or write protection is enabled or disabled.

   $ rmformat -p device-name

Examples--Enabling or Disabling Read or Write Protection

This example enables write protection and sets a password on a Zip drive.

$ rmformat -W enable /vol/dev/aliases/zip0
Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx
Please reenter password: xxx

This example disables write protection and removes the password on a Zip drive.

$ rmformat -W disable /vol/dev/aliases/zip0
Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx

This example enables read protection and sets a password on a Zip drive.

$ rmformat -R enable /vol/dev/aliases/zip0
Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx
Please reenter password: xxx

This example disables read protection and removes the password on a Zip drive.

$ rmformat -R disable /vol/dev/aliases/zip0
Please enter password (32 chars maximum): xxx