Claims
- 1. An invention comprising a method of initiating an operation after a user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed, the method comprising the step of confirming the user's intention by determining within a computer configuration a change in state of a write protection (WP) status.
- 2. An invention comprising a computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for performing a method of initiating an operation after a user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed, the method comprising the steps of
(a) confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of a write protection (WP) status, and (b) after the user's intention is confirmed, initiating the operation.
- 3. An invention comprising a computer configuration in which an operation is initiated only after a user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed, the computer configuration comprising a computer-readable medium and means for confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of a write protection (WP) status.
- 4. The invention of claim 1, wherein the operation is performed only after the user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed.
- 5. The invention of claim 1, wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status consists of determining a change in state of the WP status from enabled to disabled.
- 6. The invention of claim 1, wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status consists of determining a change in state of the WP status from disabled to enabled.
- 7. The invention of claim 1, wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises determining a change in state of the WP status from enabled to disabled.
- 8. The invention of claim 1, wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises determining a change in state of the WP status from disabled to enabled.
- 9. The invention of claim 1, wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises determining a change in state of the WP status either (a) from enabled to disabled, or (b) from disabled to enabled.
- 10. The invention of claim 1, wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises,
(a) initially checking the state of the write protection status; (b) subsequently checking the state of the write protection status; and (c) comparing the state determined in the initial check with the state determined in the subsequent check.
- 11. The invention of claim 10, wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status further comprises (d) waiting a predetermined period between the initial check and the subsequent check.
- 12. The invention of claim 11, wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status further comprises (d) repeating the subsequent check until
(i) a change in the WP status is determined, or (ii) until either,
(A) a predetermined number of subsequent checks has occurred, and/or (B) a predetermined time period has expired.
- 13. The invention of claim 10, wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status further comprises (d) repeating the subsequent check until
(i) a change in the WP status is determined, or (ii) until either,
(A) a predetermined number of subsequent checks has occurred, and/or (B) a predetermined time period has expired.
- 14. The invention of claim 1, wherein the state of the WP status must be changed by the user.
- 15. The invention of claim 14, wherein the state of the WP status is changed by a physical act of the user.
- 16. The invention of claim 1, wherein the user's intention is confirmed without requiring the use of a user-input device of a computer.
- 17. The invention of claim 1, wherein the WP status is of a computer-readable storage medium.
- 18. The invention of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is a bootstrap medium.
- 19. The invention of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is a non-removable storage medium.
- 20. The invention of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable storage medium comprises a removable storage medium.
- 21. The invention of claim 20, wherein the removable computer-readable storage medium is a bootstrap medium.
- 22. The invention of claim 20, wherein the removable storage medium comprises one of the type of floppy disks, ZIP disks, optical discs, USB devices, serial devices, parallel devices, and SCSI devices.
- 23. The invention of claim 1, wherein the WP status is of a logical container.
- 24. The invention of claim 23, wherein the logical container comprises a virtual device.
- 25. The invention of claim 23, wherein the logical container comprises a logical drive.
- 26. The invention of claim 23, wherein the logical container comprises a partition.
- 27. The invention of claim 23, wherein the logical container comprises a name space.
- 28. The invention of claim 23, wherein the logical container comprises a folder.
- 29. The invention of claim 23, wherein the logical container comprises a file.
- 30. The invention of claim 1, wherein the operation is performed on a computer.
- 31. The invention of claim 30, wherein the computer has no user-input devices connected thereto.
- 32. The invention of claim 30, wherein the computer has a user-input device that is disabled or malfunctioning.
- 33. The invention of claim 30, wherein the computer that has no user-output devices connected thereto.
- 34. The invention of claim 30, wherein the computer comprises a laptop computer.
- 35. The invention of claim 30, wherein the computer configuration includes a computer comprising a headless server.
- 36. The invention of claim 1, wherein the operation is one of the group of hard disk drive partitioning; low level disk formatting; logical container deleting; restoring a computer to a previous, known state; reinstallation of the operating system of a computer; and performing emergency repair operations on a computer.
- 37. The invention of claim 1, wherein the operation includes backing up data from a computer-readable medium to a backup medium.
- 38. The invention of claim 37, wherein the backup medium comprises network attached storage.
- 39. The invention of claim 37, wherein the operation includes restoring data of a backup to the computer-readable medium.
- 40. The invention of claim 39, wherein the computer configuration comprises a computer network and the computer-readable medium of which the backup is made comprises a headless server of the network.
- 41. The invention of claim 1, wherein a change in WP status is effected by a software program.
- 42. The invention of claim 41, wherein the software program that effects the change in WP status does not confirm the user's intention to perform the operation.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
PCT/US02/40106 |
Dec 2002 |
WO |
|
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 60/350,434, filed Jan. 22, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference, and relates to the same field of the invention as the current assignee's International patent application serial no. PCT/US02/40106, filed Dec. 16, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60350434 |
Jan 2002 |
US |