Add Files to a Network Drive And Find the Networked Folders Easily

You just woke up to a noisy ringtone of an early morning call from your employer. Your boss screams at you over that unfinished task you left yesterday. He wants you to get the work done as quickly as possible. But it will take you about 3 more hours to prepare and reach the office. So, what should you do?

This is where a Network Drive could come to your rescue. It can turn a nightmare into an opportunity. Read on as we’ll walk you through the concept of Network Drive, and how to access files on your office computer straight from the comfort of your home so that you can get your office work completed as early as possible.

What’s a Network Drive?

A Network Drive is a shortcut to storage space on a remote server, such as the office computer in your cubicle. When you create a shortcut to a network drive, it appears like any other regular partition in File Explorer. You can access its files, sub-folders as you would regularly do. You can create, modify files, and even delete the ones you no longer need.

How to Map a Network Drive?

Drive mapping is a process of establishing a connection with your network drive, and assigning it a drive letter. You don’t need to download any software to map your network drive. Using the in-house tool, you can safely connect to your office computer. Here’s how:

Step 1: Turn On Network Discovery

1. Click on the “Start” button, followed by the “Settings” icon.
2. Select “Network and Internet”.
3. Click on the “Status” tab.
4. Scroll down a bit, and look for “Network and Sharing Center”.
5. Now, click on “Change advanced sharing settings” from the left-hand side panel.
6. Make sure that the “Turn on discovery” option is selected.
7. Click on “Save Settings”.

Step 2: Add a Network Drive

1. Open up your “File Explorer”.
2. Select “This PC” from the tree view on the left-hand side.
3. Click on “Map network drive” on the Ribbon interface of your screen. If you’re unable to see it, expand it using the drop-down icon on the far top right corner, and switch to the “Computer” tab.
4. Specify a drive letter for your network drive (for example H:).
5. In the “Folder” textbox, specify the path to your network drive. (for example, “\\somerandomservice.net\abc\DESK1”)
6. Alternatively, click on “Browse” and select your folder. Click “OK”.
7. To finish creating your network drive, click o “Finish”.

Things to keep in mind that your network drive works over a network.

How to Add Files on a Network Drive?

Adding files to a network drive is simple. Much like any other file, just right-click a file you want to copy to your network drive, and select “Copy”. Open “File Explorer” and double-click your network drive. Right-click on an empty area, and select “Paste”.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut keys Ctrl + X to cut, and Ctrl + V to move your files/ folders.

Another way to add files on a network drive is to use the “Copy to…” option.

1. Open “File Explorer” and select a file that you want to copy.
2. In the “Home” tab on the Ribbon interface, click on the “Copy to” icon.
3. “Copy to” will display a long list of special directories and recently opened folders. Select your network drive.
4. If the network drive isn’t listed, click on “Select location”, choose it from the new dialog, and then click on “Copy”.

Similarly, you can move files and folders using the keyboard shortcut keys Ctrl + X (cut) and Ctrl + V (paste).

You’ll also find a “Move to” icon on the Ribbon interface to move your files to the network drive. 

Find the Networked Folders

You can browse through the networked folders as you regularly do. Just open the “File Explorer” or “This PC” and then double-click your network drive icon. You’ll see all the top-most folders in your account.

Another way to browse through networked folders is by using Command Prompt.

1. Type “CMD” in the Search Box on your Taskbar.
2. Right-click “Command Prompt” from the search results, select “Run as administrator”.
3. Type “cd” followed by a space and the directory of your network drive. DO NOT include the double-quotes. For example: “cd H:\SharedFolder”
4. To see the contents of your folder, use the “dir” command.
5. Command Prompt will display a list of all files and folders in your directory.

Bonus Tip

Do you know that you can free-up your network drive storage by deleting junk files? Our regular activities lead to duplicate instances of the same files. Knowingly or not, we create multiple copies of the same files. Over years, these duplicate files can eat up GBs of your storage and make it uneasy to find the required files.

You can delete such duplicate junk using Clone Files Checker, an industry-leading duplicates finder software. Clone Files Checker hashes your files to compare files and display a list of all duplicates found on your network drive. Using the in-house filters, you can select hundreds of files with one-click and take your desired action.

CFC gives you the ability to exclude certain folders from the scan. Sometimes, you may have critical data that you want to keep unchanged at any cost. You can create a list of such folders to exclude from the scan.

Program features:

• In-house preview functionality
• Quickly fix duplicates with a wizard or review them manually
• Multiple selection patterns
• 100% accuracy with file hashing algorithms
• Backups your files before deleting (need to activate it from program settings)
• Shows a history of all previous scans, duplicates files list and action taken