Deaddrops (USB). An interesting caching idea.

[caughtatwork]

If you go hide one, I'll make it a cache type at GCA.
Let me know before hand though (oh and make me an icon )

[Cached]

In truth, the dead drop could be the log book...

[BigON]

Strange timing as I was only just looking at this one last night.
http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-Dead-Drops/

[Zalgariath]

If you go hide one, I'll make it a cache type at GCA.
Let me know before hand though (oh and make me an icon )

How about or ?

[Damo.]

In truth, the dead drop could be the log book...

Not if it was read-only I wouldn't think.

[Philipp]

In truth, the dead drop could be the log book...

only on GCA - on geocaching.com these are not allowed. You need a "real" logbook.

[caughtatwork]

Well we are on the GCA site, so I suppose that Cached meant here. The opencaching group have deadrop caches too. Whether they are used as redirectors I'm not sure.

In terms of needing to write to the device, at GCA, you could set them up with a codeword on the device which you then use to log the cache as proof of your visit at the GCA site.

[Trigg-A-Nomics]

In terms of needing to write to the device, at GCA, you could set them up with a codeword on the device which you then use to log the cache as proof of your visit at the GCA site.

Aha, the infamous 'codeword' cache! Good idea.

I still haven't seen any simple ways to make the dead drop read-only, other than Philipp's idea of a write protected SD card into a USB SD card reader.

Here's one for $6.95, all ready to go!
http://www.oo.com.au/Vodafone_SD_Memory ... 3C1447.cfm

[Papa Bear_Left]

I still haven't seen any simple ways to make the dead drop read-only, other than Philipp's idea of a write protected SD card into a USB SD card reader.
Here's one for $6.95, all ready to go!
http://www.oo.com.au/Vodafone_SD_Memory ... 3C1447.cfm

All you'd have to do is glue the write protect slider in position.

This concept has gone into my "Spy-theme cache" ideas folder, which is starting to look like it might have to be split into two or three sub-caches!

[calumphing_four]

I still haven't seen any simple ways to make the dead drop read-only, other than Philipp's idea of a write protected SD card into a USB SD card reader.
Here's one for $6.95, all ready to go!
http://www.oo.com.au/Vodafone_SD_Memory ... 3C1447.cfm

All you'd have to do is glue the write protect slider in position.

This concept has gone into my "Spy-theme cache" ideas folder, which is starting to look like it might have to be split into two or three sub-caches!

Is write protecting SDs, opposite to how floppy's (and cassettes) worked?
I remember for floppys you could remove the slider and it became read-only (i.e no need to glue), as the slider was required to seal the hole that made them writeable.
Hmmm - a floppy as the dead-drop I guess that would make it a 5 star cache

Cheers

[Zytheran]

In terms of needing to write to the device, at GCA, you could set them up with a codeword on the device which you then use to log the cache as proof of your visit at the GCA site.

Aha, the infamous 'codeword' cache! Good idea.

I still haven't seen any simple ways to make the dead drop read-only, other than Philipp's idea of a write protected SD card into a USB SD card reader.

Here's one for $6.95, all ready to go!
http://www.oo.com.au/Vodafone_SD_Memory ... 3C1447.cfm

There appears to be some software methods of write protecting the USB's but I don't know how secure they would be. Probably OK for the casual user but no issue for anyone with old school DOS skills.

[Philipp]

Is write protecting SDs, opposite to how floppy's (and cassettes) worked?
I remember for floppys you could remove the slider and it became read-only (i.e no need to glue), as the slider was required to seal the hole that made them writeable.

The position of the slider is "read" by the device and then tells it's on read only. If the device decides "I don't care about read-only" you can actually write on a SD card WITH write-protection switched on.
The chdk firmware for Canon cameras does that e.g.

cheers

[Mr Router]

http://www.techsnack.net/write-protect- ... from-virus

[Philipp]

http://www.techsnack.net/write-protect- ... from-virus

Note: This utility will not write any files to your flash drive, it just makes sure your flash drive is write protected in this computer only. So, when you plug the flash drive into another PC, your flash drive may still infacted by viruses. So, the best way to protect your flash drive is to install this application to all computers that you may use.

Not the best English but you get the idea >> not working for a dead-drop

[Trigg-A-Nomics]

The position of the slider is "read" by the device and then tells it's on read only. If the device decides "I don't care about read-only" you can actually write on a SD card WITH write-protection switched on.

Grrrr! What's the point of having an ignorable read-only switch? This confirms what you've said:
http://www.fencepost.net/2010/03/usb-fl ... rotection/

So, back to square one. Would it be possible to hardware hack cheap USB stick to make it write-protected?