[2747] in linux-scsi channel archive
read-only disks (was Re: Hacked)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mr M S Aitchison)
Mon Nov 3 14:41:41 1997
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 08:37:36 +1300
From: physmsa@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz (Mr M S Aitchison)
To: linux-scsi@vger.rutgers.edu
The off-topic "hacked" postings got me thinking - some disks have a
hardware switch to prevent writing (although I've seen few lately). To
improve security (in situations where people might get access to the
console, reboot using a diskette to break security, etc), I can imagine
some write-lock being useful. So...
How well would Linux support a disk that (sometimes) is in read-only
mode? Would it keep trying to write warnings to the log, and make the
system impractical to run? Normally a partition is mounted read-only
at the start - can it be changed on the fly? Is there some scsi
convention already for read-only disks that is applicable to a
situation where (e.g.) sdb is read-only unless I insert some hardware
key?
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Mark Aitchison, \_ Phone: +64 3 364-2947 home 337-1225
Dept of Physics & Astronomy, </ Fax: +64 3 364-2469 or 364-2999
University of Canterbury, /) E-mail: phys169@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND. (/' www.phys.canterbury.ac.nz/~physmsa
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