Map Network drive

When I right click My Computer/Network Icon, I get Map Network drive. I would appreciate, if someone explain the significance and use of it.

Thanks in advance.

Jit

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Comments

h41t3r

hi!
map network drive is like accessing a shared drive in network neighbourhood. EXCEPT, it allows you to treat the drive as if it were on your computer (local) by using My Computer to access the drive. This provides for faster access times.

i think thats how i remember it being defined in my text book. im studyin for OS and will be writing it this week or latest next monday!
hope this helps.

bellboy

ok, picture yourself at a computer in a corporate-style network. if you have a "my computer" icon, you may see the a: and c: drives if you have privileges giving you access to them. you may also see another drive (normally n: i think), which represents your own workspace within the network. it will be housed on the fileserver, and is your "my documents" folder there under your login/user name. that is an example of a mapped drive.

ghaouf

bellbob is right maping a drive is only there to help you it could also be an easier if you want to save a file to a server you could just save it to drive H for example
also in maping a drive you could tell it to reconect at login so the pc will automaticaly map to the network drive during bootup

JIT

Thanks everybody for quick answer! I am a green-horn in IT field. I would appreciate if you clarify more in this regard.

Through Network Neighbourhood, I can share my file, printer, or C drive. I can right click my C-drive, and enable sharing. Similarly I can also access other hard drive through Network Connection. How does this differ from Map Network drive sharing/accessing?

Thanks

h41t3r

hi again, uhm.. sorry if i wasnt clear earlier. Anyways, here it is again (anyone wanting to correct is free to do so;):

lets say you are in network neighborhood and you go to one drive/computer more often than you do another. you can map that drive so that it shows up in "My Computer" instead of having to go into network neighborhood.
Now, the next time you want to access that computer/drive/folder, all you have to do is go into My Computer and find the drive letter that you have assigned to that remote computer.
Ex. you map the drive to drive N:, you click on drive N: in "My Computer".

I assume its also possible to save documents (if you have permission) directly to that drive as well (through Microsoft Word or some other app).

I hope this clears things up a bit. Mapping is just an easier way of accessing the computer/drive you want without having to go through Network Neighborhood all the time.

ciao!