With all this talk about speeds and tacked on displays and blinkenlights, manufacturers seem to have forgotten the poor sysadmin. Are there any USB flash drives that have a write protect switch?!?! Darned if I can find any. The last thing you can do with an owned machine is stick in a flash drive with no write protect. Wasn't there a reason floppy disks had a protect tab?

If there aren't I guess the only route is to buy SD flash and an USB-SD adapter. I believe the SD flash's "lock" switch is an optical one though, so some manufacturers may decide they couldn't be bothered honouring it... Any ideas?

Thanks,

Conor.

I have a small USB-SD flash drive (no larger then many flash drives) I keep a 2GB card inside works great AND I can use the card in my camera.

Cool! I think I've found two online (Pretec or TwinMos) that might do the job! What's the make on yours? And I've just remembered that the insane HP scanner-printer beside me also has card slots so that would work well.

Oh, and if you put the write protect on does it refuse to write? I'm positive the camera would refuse but the USB-SD adapter might still let you!

Conor.

Mine is IOGEAR ordered from Amazon about $20. will not write if switch set to lock. Sorry it had no key ring.

It is about the same size as my Lexar 128MG Jump Drive that I paid $35 for 3 years ago.

If your camera takes SD then it is now your card reader.

So for your money you get:
A flash drive with replaceable and expandable memory
a SD card reader
and memory you can use in some mp3 players and many cameras
A good deal!

Vendors are reintroducing the external write protect switch.

The Imitation Clip Flash Drive 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB (Clips securely to your bag, briefcase, backpack, or belt loop) has an external write protect switch.

The Trekstor 50324 8GB USB-Stick CS Flash Drive has a external write protect switch.

The thread is old but hopeful someone can benefit from this information.