network drives : Java Glossary
- network drives
When you have a LAN (Local Area Network), it is possible to read and write drives on other
machines on the local network. Because of security concerns, it generally won’t
work for drives out on the Internet. There are two basic methods:
For this to work, the owner of the drive has to do two things:
- With drive letter mapping. You use the Map Network
Drive command to map an unused drive letter such as M: to a drive or directory in somebody else’s machine.
Click My Network Neighbourhood ⇒ drill down to the
machine, drive and directory ⇒ click Tools ⇒ Click Map Network
Drive. Thereafter you use the letter M: as if it
were a local drive.
- With explicit server naming. You use filenames of the form:
Here is an example of a BAT (Batch) file using the explicit
server and share name:
xcopy G:\dl\*.* \\roedyacer\F\dl\ /SEYD
- Mark the drive or folder shared. He should select the drive
in my computer ⇒ right click share.
- Under Advanced Sharing, give you permission to read
and or write the drive. Without that permission, the drive will either be
invisible, or will appear to be broken.
When either you or the machine whose drive you are
using reboots, the connection is broken. It generally reestablishes the link without
hassle if the server (the machine with the files) fires up first. So the simplest way
to reestablish a link is to try a reboot. You can also try poking around in
Network Neighbourhood using refresh to prod the connection back to life.