A technique is provided for identifying the write protect status of a removable
storage media, such as a computer diskette, prior to normal interaction with the
media. The present technique interacts with the removable storage media and identifies
the write protect status as write protected if the interaction produces a failure
code indicative of write protection. For example, data storage may be attempted
at a non-storage location, thereby producing a write protect error if the media
is write protected or an invalid write error if the media is not write protected.
Alternatively, the present technique may attempt to read and rewrite data back
to the media, thereby producing the write protect error if the media is write protected.
