unc path vs mapped drive performance


Each of the computers has several mapped drives that are used in the app to allow access to read/write various files, etc. By far. Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path refers to a shared network resource. Word? The alternative to mapped drives is to maintain a list of computers on the network, and teach users how to use UNC. This is why I asked if there was any known issues between UNC and Mapped drives. A co-worker stated that he "knew for a fact" that there are performance issues in accessing a directory over a UNC path versus using a mapped drive to the … A UNC path to a shared location tends to be more stable than a mapped drive letter as it includes the sharing computer's name or IP address which doesn't often change. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework. Join your peers on the Internet's largest technical computer professional community.It's easy to join and it's free. \\?\UNC\MachineName\Path), but we've discovered that no matter where the directory is located, even on the same machine, it's much slower when accessing through the UNC path than the local path. UNC paths in the PROPATH reauthenticate on every file access. Please provide us a way to contact you, It seems that when we try to add a hyperlink to a document using the Mapped drive the search takes forever and after one to three links the memory fills up on the PCs when we do this same function using UNC The PC remains stable. Please tell us how we can make this article more useful. article #788, updated 2172 days ago. Change servers with UNC path and you're screwed. This is also one recommended way to eliminate multi-user mode errors. I have an app that is being run on client computers connected to a Win 2003 server. We will guide the customer down the UNC route and see if that helps them at all. Did this article resolve your question/issue? NOTE: Use UNC paths instead of mapped drives for rendered output (especially when doing network rendering) and for scene assets, such as bitmap textures, XRef files,.ies files and so forth. A network drive is also largely limited to a local area network. Support for working with UNC paths in Unix and other operating systems use cross-platform file sharing technologies like Samba . QuickBooks will be faster if its data file is loaded via UNC — \\SERVER\SHARE\folder — rather than mapped drive. With larger companies not everyone shares the same mapped drives and some people hate them altogether. I tested gci vs. cmd dir vs. FileIO.FileSystem.GetFiles from @Shawn Melton's referenced link. Mapped vs UNC. If it is still slow when you use the UNC path, see slow performance when you copy a single file, a folder or multiple files. Mapped drives authenticate once when the drive is mapped. I'm thinking there is *some* reason that the mapped drives are faster than browsing or using a full-UNC shortcut, but can't seem to find anything to support that. Active 4 years, 8 months ago. Thank you for helping keep Tek-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.The Tek-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action. https://superuser.com/questions/393397/why-is-it-bad-to-map-network-drives-in-windows. A co-worker stated that he "knew for a fact" that there are performance issues in accessing a directory over a UNC path versus using a mapped drive to the same location. Characters Remaining: 1025. Sage Accounts, however, often uses mapped drives. As a consequence, the link will be broken. And to reiterate, in my experience Mapped Drives respond slightly better than a UNC path. should we need clarification on the feedback provided or if you need further assistance. I'm receiving feedback from a developer that "The only way visual basic (6) can deal with a UNC path is to map it to a drive." The Universal Naming Convention is the naming system used in Microsoft Windows for accessing shared network folders and printers on a local area network . The only way that UNC connections would consume less resources than a mapped drive is in the single case of how often those connections are opened. Local Drives vs Mapped Drives . I also have a few users connecting using Terminal Server. A UNC path is the path to a folder or file on a network and contains the server name in the path. Asked 7 years, 5 months ago. Already a member? The way it handles UNC and mapped drives there is a speed differences for reads on mapped vs UNC, with mapped being faster; as the file gets larger in size that time differences goes away. Viewed 46k times. Setting file output/destination paths using UNC naming conventions allows all PCs on a network to have an exact machine/folder/file path "address". UNC Path Vs. Mapped Drives Auguy (Programmer) (OP) 14 Oct 10 11:15. Has anyone heard of such a thing? It was a surprise when this particular Windows 7 installation chose the UNC path. Copyright © 2017 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates.All Rights Reserved. Progress Software Corporation makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information. \\Asterix\OfficeDir\Word\). I just tested this on my PC and I notice no difference between UNC and Mapped. To give other people on your network access to this file, you would share it, making it accessible through a path … Syntax of mapped drive: N:\folder\subfolder\ Syntax of UNC path: \\ComputerName\SharedFolder\Resource\ Since Windows 7, the behavior of mapped drives has changed. The origins of the information on this site may be internal or external to Progress Software Corporation (“Progress”). By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail. If using NTFS file format (Windows native), although you lose a small amount of performance iSCSI may be more compatible because Windows is natively using and controlling the drive. Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden. How to determine the UNC path of the DFS shared folder: Right-click the shared folder, and then select Properties. The old computer opens a Lightroom catalog that contains a mix of files on the local hard drive, as well as files stored on a server on my LAN. On the old computer, the LAN server is mapped to a letter drive, so Lightroom sees those files as something like Z:\path\to\pictures.