First off, writing more than 1.44 MB on a floppy generally shortens the useful life of the floppy, and doesn't always work. There is no garauntee that the diskette will be able to safely store at any density greater than 1.44. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for a mission critical server. That is not to say that lots of people have made these diskettes. I've done it myself and never had any problems, but never on anything that was mission-critical or irreplaceable.
Secondly, an alternate solution to the CDRW is simple. Use a different PC or a detachable CDRW to create the CD and then have a CDR only device as the PC's regular device. Hence the CDRW is effectively read only.
Also as has been stated you can get memory keys that have write-protect switches. I don't happen to have one but you can get them at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc.
Personally, I'd like to see a plug-in card with a jumper on it and an EEPROM. I've considered building one ... when I get around to those hobby projects on my list of things to do. The downside there is everytime you make a change you have to open up the box. I've also thought about putting in an infrared "switch" that would enable/disable the write_enable pin on an EEPROM. I know, I know, I think too much.
Brian JD
--- Leo Mauler wrote:
I was going over some of my old links (in backup CDs) and found this interesting link to creating 1.680MB floppy disks for use in floppy-based routers and gateways:
http://www.trevormarshall.com/byte_articles/byte19.htm
... You can duplicate the security (and possibly make it better) with a write-once CD-R, but to make changes you have to write an entirely new CD. ReWritable CDs aren't a good idea precisely because they have no "write-protect tab". The same might go for a memory key, since there is no "write-protect tab" for a memory key.