Issue With Disabling Attachments

If a forum has had the attachment system enabled but decides to disable attachments (because of disk space issues) or if they simply decide to remove a particular extension group, then all existing attachments posted will no longer be displayed either.

Can the attachment system be changed so that disabling attachments (or extensions) simply prevents further uploads without disabling the display of the older existing attachments already posted? For example, with two ACP toggles: 1 to toggle the display of attachments feature and 1 to toggle the uploading of attachments feature.