Map a folder to a drive, Without Syncing

Question

I'm desperately looking for some program or command to map a folder to a drive.

Furthermore, there is freeware called Cobian Backup which has a option to make incremental backup (backup files that has been changed) but the only problem is files I want to backup are in NAS-server (the only way to connect is LAN) and that software doesn't backup drives; plus I want to store backups in another NAS-server. Also I cannot use windows option to sync because those files are very large.

In short, I want to make that software think it's working with a folder not a drive.

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The backup system built in our NAS-System is very unreliable, That's why I want to dedicate a separate computer to do this task.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Solution #1

I think you're asking the wrong question. Instead of trying to trick this program into thinking it's dealing with a local folder, why not do away with the program altogether and use the features built into Windows, namely robocopy and Task Scheduler.

1. Modify the paths in text below to match your NAS server paths, and save it as a batch file (e.g. backup.bat)
   
   

   robocopy /MIR \\path\to\your\first\folder\on\the\NAS \\path\to\the\folder\you\want\to\save\the\backup\to

2. Use the Windows Task Scheduler to schedule the batch script to run when you want to the backup jobs to take place.

Note that robocopy will save a mirror image of the first folder to the second. If any files in the first folder already exist in the second folder with the same file size and modification date, then robocopy will skip those files. This is in-effect, an incremental backup.

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Solution #2

An alternative solution would be to use a different backup software other than Cobian. There are tons of free alternatives that can backup network shares, so why limit yourself? I haven't tried it, but EaseUS Todo Backup claims to be able to do what you want.

Answer 2

Mapping a folder to a drive is easily done under Windows.
The only problem is that one needs to declare the folder as shared.
Here is how :

1. Share folders in Windows 7 with the Shared Folder Wizard.
   Or you can just right-click on the folder / Properties / Sharing tab.

2. Create a shortcut to (map) a network drive
   Map the above shared folder to a drive letter by Start button / Computer / Map network drive (use the Browse button if you cannot find it by name).

Answer 3

Whilst this might not answer your question because it's not about mapping a folder to a drive, it might solve your backup problem.

Robocopy has all the functionality you seem to need, including restartable mode, backup mode, retry options, monitoring mode and many more options.

Answer 4

Caveat: Whilst this might not answer your question because it's not about mapping a folder to a drive, it might solve your backup problem.

If you are running your sync software from windows, syncback is freely available and can be set to run to do scheduled backup.

Syncback is able to do folder to folder - including shared folder on a NAS - as long as it can access the files, it can work with it.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

There is a windows command SUBST that does this.

Example:

If my network drive is "\\samba\temp" and I want to map it to "x:\"

I run

SUBST x:\ \\samba\temp

from a dos window.

The same applies locally.

If my local drive is "D:\temp" and I want to map it to "x:\"

I run

SUBST x:\ d:\temp

This stays valid until you reboot your machine or map the drive otherwise

See wikipedia for more info.

Answer 6

Just ask Microsoft, you paid for the support, take advantage of it. (There is absolutely no irony in this: you paid for their product and no one knows better Windows than Microsoft)

http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/cc753321.aspx

Basically, in the disk manager, there is an option to change drive letters and set paths.

If you don't like the GUI way, the command line utility for win7 is DISKPART and the doc is available on there website as well as on your computer.

Related notes:

1. This operation is called "mounting". You'll be luckier if you use the good names.
2. Your problem is not well defined (or so it seems from your question). Sorry, but you seem to be the victim of a nailing a toothpick with a screwdriver syndrome.
3. Since you fail to identify your problem, your attempts to solve it will most certainly be in vain (aka. I fidget so I am).

This might look pretty aggressive, but this is not the point (and this is not the case by the way, my humor is weird). The point is that you are taking a questionable path to solve a questionable problem.