a drive letter to it. Suppose that a server has a shared folder named Marketing. You can assign drive letter M to this shared folder. Then you access the Marketing folder as drive M:. The M: drive is then called a network drive because it uses the network to access data in a shared folder. Assigning a drive letter to a shared folder is mapping a drive.
Shared folders can be set up with restrictions on how you can use them. For example, you may be granted full access to some shared folders so that you can copy files to or from them, delete files on them, or create or remove folders on them. On other shared folders, your access may be limited in certain ways. For example, you may be able to copy files to or from the shared folder but not delete files, edit files, or create new folders. You may also be asked to enter a password before you can access a protected folder. The amount of disk space you're allowed to use on a shared folder may also be limited. For more information about file-sharing restrictions, see Chapter 13.
Four Good Uses for a Shared Folder
After you know which shared network folders are available, you may wonder what you’re supposed to do with them. This section describes four good uses for a network folder.
Store files that everybody needs
A shared network folder is a good place to store files that more than one user needs to access. Without a network, you have to store a copy of the file on everyone’s computer, and you have to worry about keeping the copies synchronized (which you can’t do, no matter how hard you try). Or you can keep the file on a disk and pass it around. Or you can keep the file on one computer and play Musical Chairs; whenever someone needs to use the file, he goes to the computer that contains the file.
On a network, you can keep one copy of the file in a shared folder on the network, and everyone can access it.
Store your own files
You can also use a shared network folder as an extension of your own hard drive storage. For example, if you filled up all the free space on your hard drive with pictures, sounds, and movies that you downloaded from the Internet, but the network server has billions and billions of gigabytes of free space, you have all the drive space you need. Just store your files on the network drive!
Here are a few guidelines for storing files on network drives:
Using the network drive for your own files works best if the network drive is set up for private storage that other users can’t access. That way, you don’t have to worry about the nosy guy down in Accounting who likes to poke around in other people’s files.
Don’t overuse the network drive. Remember that other users have probably filled up their own hard drives, so they want to use the space on the network drive too.
Before you store personal files on a network drive, make sure that you have permission. A note from your mom will do.
On domain networks, a drive (typically, drive H:) is commonly mapped to a user’s home folder. The home folder is a network folder that’s unique for each user. You can think of it as a network version of Documents. If your network is set up with a home folder, use it rather than Documents for any important work-related files. That’s because the home folder is usually included in the network’s daily backup schedule. By contrast, most networks do not back up data you store in Documents.
Make a temporary resting place for files on their way to other users
“Hey, Lisa, could you send me a copy of last month’s baseball stats?”
“Sure, Bart.” But how? If the baseball stats file resides on Lisa’s local drive, how does Lisa send a copy of the file to Bart’s computer? Lisa can do it by copying the file to a network drive. Then Bart can copy the file to his local hard drive.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when you use a network drive to exchange files with other network users:
Remember to delete files that you saved to the network drive after they’re picked up! Otherwise, the network drive quickly fills up with unnecessary files.
Create a folder on the network drive specifically intended for holding files en route to other users. I like to name this folder PITSTOP.
Back up your local hard drive
If enough drive space is available on the file server, you can use it to store backup copies of the files on your hard drive. Just copy the files that you want to back up to a shared network folder.
Obviously, if you copy all your data files to the network drive — and everybody else follows suit — it can fill up quickly. Check with the network manager before you start storing backup copies of your files on the server. The manager may have already set up a special network drive that’s designed just for backups. And if you’re lucky, your network manager may be able to set up an automatic backup schedule for your important data so that you don’t have to remember to back it up manually.
I hope that your network administrator also routinely backs up the contents of the network server’s disk to tape. (Yes, tape — see Chapter 22 for details.) That way, if something happens to the network server, the data can be recovered from the backup tapes.
Oh, the Network Places You’ll Go
Windows enables you to access network resources, such as shared folders, by browsing the network. In Windows 7, choose Network from the Start menu. In Windows 10, open Windows Explorer (click File Explorer on the taskbar) and then click Network. Figure 3-2 shows the Windows 10 version of the network browser.
The network shown in Figure 3-2 consists of just two computers: the desktop client computer running Windows 10 (WIN10-01) and a server computer running Windows Server 2016 (WIN1601). In an actual network, you would obviously see more than just two computers.
FIGURE 3-2: Browsing the network in Windows 10.
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