Newbie Alert - Mapped drives versus Network Connections

[dane775]

I don't have a good understanding of network connections versus mapped drives.

What can you "do or not do" with one that you can do with the other. I get some of it but I'm very weak on the basics.

P.S. - While I'm looking stupid, can anyone make a recommendation for a good Windows Networking book?

Thanks in advance!!...Dane

 

[alidabiri]

check this site
full of info for you:

http://www.totallynetworked.com/

 

[dane775]

Cool....thanks much!!

 

[alidabiri]

i'm sorry, that was
this site

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/

 

[dane775]

alidabiri:

Did you take a look at that site before you posted the link? There's nothing of value there...no online info at all.

It's just a advertisment for a consulting firm.

 

[dane775]

Okay...*grinz*...I thought I was missing a link or something.

Thanks again!

 

[alidabiri]

it was just a slip.
you don't need to get testy.

 

[dane775]

alidabiri,

Testy? I never get testy. If you look at all of my responses I always say Thank You! and when I'm helping others, I always say Good Luck!

(I usually post in the Nortel Networks Datacom area).

If it came off that way it wasn't intended.

Dane

 

[smah]

Mapped drives are for the convenience of humans.

Steve

 

[spudnuts]

Good Article

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308582

Here's alittle bit on the subject:

A network drive is a folder on a Server to which you have exclusive, individual rights. This folder is a place to store files that you and only you can access (Unless the folder is assigned to a group as a "Share" folder). Each user can have such a folder, and it is physically stored on a server. Because this folder is on a server separate from all the workstations, it does not matter where you happen to be doing your work. Once you identify yourself to the computer by logging on, you are connected to your folder on the server (As long as you selected "Reconnect at logon" when the drive was mapped). This folder can be thought of as a separate disk drive that behaves just like the hard disk that is physically present in the workstation itself. Because the folder is actually on a server, and because you connect to it only after identifying yourself to the workstation, only you have access to this network folder, from anywhere. You cannot connect to a network drive without a network connection, unless of course the drive your attempting to connect to resides on the machine your logged into, and even then it can sometimes be tricky to find.

I'm no sys admin expert but that basically sums it up.



Information Assurance,CCNP,CST

 

[dane775]

smah - what about subhumans such as myself?...*grin*

spudnuts - cool...thanks much!

 

[Nelviticus]

Also some applications don't like using network paths but will happily work with mapped drives. For instance, I have a network-attached storage box: the CD-burning application Nero won't back up files from it unless I map a drive letter to the folder I want to back up. Similarly Google's Picasa photo-browsing application won't browse photos on it unless a drive letter is mapped.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[dane775]

Nelviticus - That's good to know...thanks

This place rocks!

 

[PRPhx]

A network connection means that a computer is connected in some way to another device (shared resource) on a network. That device could be a printer, scanner, a disk drive or a folder on a drive someplace.

A mapped drive is just that. it's a network connection to either a disk drive or a shared resource on a network. You generally can connect to this share by either a letter (drive z: for instance) or through the use of a UNC(Universal Naming Convention) i.e.: \\servername\sharename.