Question Drive that allows write protecting regions ?

[Melab]

I'm looking for an SSD that allows for write protecting individual regions of the entire drive until the next power cycle, like an eMMC. Do any such drives exist?

 

[SkyNetRising]

You can lock entire partition and make it read only. This does not reset on power cycle though.
attributes volume set readonly
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[Melab]

You can lock entire partition and make it read only. This does not reset on power cycle though.
attributes volume set readonly
attributes volume clear readonly

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This tutorial shows you how to set a particular disk or volume read-only in Windows 10 / 8 / 7, without using any third-party software.

www.top-password.com

That's not hardware-enforced.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm looking for an SSD that allows for write protecting individual regions of the entire drive until the next power cycle, like an eMMC. Do any such drives exist?

Why is this a requirement?
Write protected from whom?

Knowing the why may lead to an alternative solution.

 

[Melab]

Why is this a requirement?
Write protected from whom?

Knowing the why may lead to an alternative solution.

Write protected against writes by the software running on the computer. A first stage is supposed to do some things and then lock its region before passing control off to a second stage.

I know what I want.

 

[Moonstick2]

You're out of luck then.

First off, the differences between eMMC and SSD have nothing to do with write protection.

Secondly, hardware write-protection applies to a whole drive, not sections of it.

Thirdly, hardware write-protection can't as-standard be removed by a simple power-cycle, for obvious reasons.

So given that it's your only solution, you don't have one.

 

[Melab]

First off, the differences between eMMC and SSD have nothing to do with write protection.

I don't understand what you're saying. If eMMC has WP capabilities and SSDs don't, then that is a difference between them. I mentioned eMMCs as an example of the capability that I'm describing.

Secondly, hardware write-protection applies to a whole drive, not sections of it.

That is not true. Nothing stops a piece of technology from being designed that way. On an eMMC, there are write protection groups that allow you to write protect sections of storage instead of the entire range. This write protection can either be temporary, permanent. or last until the eMMC is power-cycled/turned off.

Thirdly, hardware write-protection can't as-standard be removed by a simple power-cycle, for obvious reasons.

That is also not true. As I said, eMMCs have what their specification calls power-on write protection. The NVMe specification now provides the same write protection modes for namespaces.

I don't know why you mention standards. A desired capability for a piece of technology need not be part of a standard and can instead be an extension to that standard. Many technologies have vendor-specific commands by which extended capabilities may be controlled.

 

[Melab]

Why is this a requirement?
Write protected from whom?

Knowing the why may lead to an alternative solution.

I might accept an alternative solution, but it can be tedious to spell out all the parameters ahead of time that might be accepted.

 

[Moonstick2]

I don't understand what you're saying. If eMMC has WP capabilities and SSDs don't, then that is a difference between them. I mentioned eMMCs as an example of the capability that I'm describing.

eMMC is about low-cost embedded memory. There's nothing inherent to eMMC that gives it write-protection capabilities that an SSD drive (of which NVMe is a type) can't have.

On an eMMC, there are write protection groups that allow you to write protect sections of storage instead of the entire range. This write protection can either be temporary, permanent. or last until the eMMC is power-cycled/turned off.

That is also not true. As I said, eMMCs have what their specification calls power-on write protection. The NVMe specification now provides the same write protection modes for namespaces.

You said you wanted hardware-enforced protection. That normally means things like lock switches on SD cards, or maybe connection pins where the drive refuses to write if the voltage is low/high. Or back in the day, breaking a tab on a VHS cassette. Things that mean "I really don't want to delete this accidentally" (hence not usually being cleared by a power cycle) and need some act more physical than a software command to turn them off. If you just meant a non-OS firmware-based solution, you put it wrong.

NVMe Write Protection has been around since 2019. If you're saying it does what you want then it's not clear what you're even asking.

I might accept an alternative solution, but it can be tedious to spell out all the parameters ahead of time that might be accepted.

Yeah, well it's pretty tedious to try guessing at what's needed by somebody who won't say what they're trying to achieve and is vague about what's acceptable, but apparently your time's more valuable, so best of luck.

 

[Ralston18]

@Melab

Hardware write protect? Something like the USB thumb drives or SD cards with a little switch to prevent overwriting existing data? I.e., Lock/Unlock.....

But the switch only protects the entire thumb drive/SD card and not individual regions.

I expect that that could be done if someone designed an SSD with some number of switches to protect different regions.

There would need to be specific/discrete regions created and "switched". Maybe some combination of switches to establish the region size and the another switch to write protect that region.

Overall problematic with respect to hardware, firmware, software. Certainly doable I think.

Without really knowing (as has been mentioned) what you are trying to do my thought would be to use an external (USB) SD card reader with a lock/unlock SD card installed.

Or even a "bank" of them in an independently powered USB hub.

All readily available: Google "exernal SD card reader USB lock unlock". Revise the search criteria as necessary for your requirements.

However, if the requirement is that no one else is able to access the hardware switch then the External drive solution falls short.

Preventing accidental write-overs is one thing. Preventing someone from deliberately causing overwrites is another.

No harm if I have gone totally off track with respect to your requirements.

Just curious enough to take a guess at it all.

More information would indeed be helpful.

 

[Melab]

eMMC is about low-cost embedded memory. There's nothing inherent to eMMC that gives it write-protection capabilities that an SSD drive (of which NVMe is a type) can't have.

Again, it's just an example of a data storage device that has the functionality ("power-on write protection", as the eMMC specification calls it) that I am talking about.

You said you wanted hardware-enforced protection. That normally means things like lock switches on SD cards, or maybe connection pins where the drive refuses to write if the voltage is low/high. Or back in the day, breaking a tab on a VHS cassette. Things that mean "I really don't want to delete this accidentally" (hence not usually being cleared by a power cycle) and need some act more physical than a software command to turn them off. If you just meant a non-OS firmware-based solution, you put it wrong.

Oh, well. You can make that distinction, but I've seen "hardware write protection" used before in the sense that I used it. There's something to stop it from it being cleared on a power cycle. Indeed, Winbond SPI flash chips have such a feature that is totally logic circuit based.

NVMe Write Protection has been around since 2019. If you're saying it does what you want then it's not clear what you're even asking.

It has the sort of feature that I am looking for, but so does eMMC. The problem is that I can't use in either in my PC.

Yeah, well it's pretty tedious to try guessing at what's needed by somebody who won't say what they're trying to achieve

Discussing the "why" of a question usually just bogs down the conversation, in my experience.