Disk-protection is any defensive software or hardware that protects a storage medium. Most commonly this refers to programs using a combination of write redirection, and filesystem virtualization to discard system changes upon reboot.
Disk-protection is a broad term for any program, or piece of hardware acting as a defensive mechanism against alteration of a storage medium's contents. This includes backup tools, disk differencing technology, sandboxes, snapshot technology, filesystem virtualization, but most commonly software employing write re-direction (often paired with filesystem virtualization).
Programs like Farconics DeepFreeze, Windows SteadyState, Returnil, Symantec Workspace Virtualization, Altiris Software Virtualization, Norton GoBack, and ShadowDefender use write re-direction to store changes in a cache or alternate location. These changes can then be discarded, typically upon system reboot. This helps protect the user from malware, software installations, and unwanted changes.
