I just recovered files from a USB drive and then attempted to format the drive. However, it said "this disk is write-protected". Checking the permissions showed I had complete access, including both read and write. I used Recuva to recover files that I'd inadvertently deleted, but now I can't move the files that are still on therel (but can copy them), write any new files, or format the drive. Could Recuva have done this or could it be a faulty drive?
Afaik recuva does not make the drive read only. Did you try to diconnect the drive then reconnect and format?
It can sometimes happen that a USB stick suddenly becomes write protected for seemingly no reason.
See this for various ways to fix it: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-fix-write-protection-errors-on-a-usb-stick/
Thank you!. It was Step 5 that cleared it. I did find it interesting, though, that formatting the disk was the last resort. That's actually what I was setting out to do and it wouldn't allow me because of the write protect. Once that was cleared, I was able to format.