Securely Prevent Changes To Your NTFS USB Sticks

Given the nature of USB Sticks, namely their portability and ease of use, It's a commonality for users to copy & paste their sensitive files from multiple PCs. As such, there's nothing stopping someone with physical access to the device, from making unauthorized changes to It's contents. It's crucial to keep files In their original state, hence In this tutorial, I will show you how to securely prevent changes to your NTFS USB Sticks.


Before I begin, do note that the device must be formatted with the NTFS file system. Further to the above-mentioned details, USB Sticks can also be compromised by simply plugging It Into a computer that contains a virus. It can Infect all your files within a couple of seconds and before you've figured out what happened, your sensitive data Is rendered useless.

To deny making changes to your device, I will demonstrate how to do It, by using a neat little tool named Ntfs Drive Protection that can be downloaded from the official website, or via this reputable source. So without further delay, let's rip Into this tutorial.

Step One:

Once you've downloaded Ntfs Drive Protection, there's no need to Install It, so simply double-click the executable file. Plugin your USB Stick and when you see It In the Target Drive drop-down menu, hit Start Protection as shown below.

Step Two:

The tool will now begin to protect your USB Stick. The duration depends on It's capacity and the number of files stored, but It's usually extremely quick. On completion, a message of  drive operation completed successfully, will be returned. Your device Is now protected, so click OK to finalize the process.

Step Three:

And here's my USB device Icon. Visually, there's no Indication of a protected drive, but It's contents cannot be overwritten, nor can data be added to It. I'll test It In the next few steps.

Step Four:

I'll start off by trying to create a new folder on my Removable Disk F, which Is my USB Stick.

Step Five:

As you can see, a permission error has been returned, with a title of Destination Folder Access Denied. Perfect!

Step Six:

I shall now attempt to rename a random folder, that's sitting on my USB Stick.

Step Seven:

As expected, a Folder Access Denied message similar to Step Five above, has been returned. You can see that my folder name (RENAME), has not been applied. Essentially, my USB Stick Is write protected.

Step Eight:

To remove the protection, simply click on Stop Protection as arrowed below.

Last Step:

If you see a message of drive operation completed successfully, then all has gone well. Hit OK to exit the tool. Your USB Stick Is now back to It's normal functionality.

Final Thoughts:

The good thing about Ntfs Drive Protection, Is not only that It's a portable tool without the need to Install It on your computer, but also It's ease of use. On average, It takes less than 30 seconds to protect your USB Stick, and half that time to reverse the change. Moreover, It's totally free of cost, so there's every reason to have It as part of your security toolbox.