Anyway to make network shares appear as local drives?

[BigBHaller]

Does anyone know if it is possible to make a network share appear to windows as a local drive (like a NAS LUN without actually using a NAS)?

 

[wolluf]

Can you give more eplanation of what you mean? Presumably mapping a drive letter to the network share is not the solution you want. Are you talking about a share on another machine or on the local machine?

 

[BigBHaller]

No, a simple network mapping won't work for what I need (some applications don't behave correctly if mapped to a network share). I am wondering if there is a simple or cheaper way to utilize the storage resources via regular gigabit ethernet on another server and have it appear to windows as a physical local drive, much like creating LUNs to a NAS or SAN device using iSCSI.

I found a product called SANMelody by DataCorp which appears to do what I want, for the lite version it's $199... and $1178 for the full version without options.

 

[captaincrunch00]

Maybe this?

http://www.digitalwidget.net/virdir/index.html

 

[BigBHaller]

No, but thank you anyway. That appears to be just a GUI for the native SUBST and NET USE commands in Windows.

 

[captaincrunch00]

Is there a client install for these applications that you are trying to run off of the server?

If not, do you have enough licenses or do you just have one license for the software and you have a bunch of clients trying to connect?

 

[maxthedork]

So in other words, you're trying to map a network drive or connect to a network share and make it appear that it's a local drive, such as A: - E: ?

 

[BigBHaller]

Haha, you guys are making it more difficult than it really is (well actually, it's not a simple request to begin with).

A simple drive mapping won't work for me in my case. It's not a licensing issue. Certain apps don't behave when using simple map drives because Windows knows these are not physical storage on the local machine.

I need an app or driver that "fools" windows into thinking a remotely connected storage resource is an actual physical device on the local machine. DataCore's app fits the bill, but the price is a little steep for me. If you go to their site and read the description for SANSymphony it explains what I am looking for. If you're familiar with attaching LUNs to SAN or NAS devices, that is what I want to do, except to another regular server.

I guess the answer to my question is that there is no cheap/quick way to accomplish it. =\

 

[bobsa32]

Cant you use a net use command:

eg: net use g: \\computer\share

 

[GeneralDzur]

BigBHaller,

I know what you're talking about - we use SAN's were I work and the capability is awesome.

Have you ever used Alchohol 120% or similar program? I know they typically only mount .ISO's and .MDF's in virtual DVD-ROM's, but I'm sure there's a way to tweak it to allow what you're talking about.

- stephan