Mapping Drives - Frustrating

I have gone through scores of forum posts of people quite frustrated with share staying mapped… whether it is Windows issue of WD issue is not the point. The easiest way to copy data is to map a share drive and paste in it. But if these drives are going to vanish every now and then, how does one expect to have a reliable backup / sync plan? I am using Windows 7 and keep losing shares mapped.

My suspicion is that it’s a Windows issue. I suspect it tries to reconnect at boot up before the network connection has been adequately re-established.

I have two Windows 7 Pro SP1 PCs, connected by Ethernet, and, most of the time, they re-connect automatically. If they don’t, then I find that opening one of the network drives seems to make it wake up again. One of the PCs is an Atom-based ‘all-in-one’, that I usually leave in Sleep mode. I used to leave shortcuts to the network drives on the desktop, but these kept getting removed on leaving sleep (because Windows decided it couldn’t see them). Now I use the drive links under ‘MyPC’ in File Explorer.

I also have a Windows 8.1 tablet, that is usually left in Sleep mode, but is connected by WiFi. If I leave any applications running that require a network connection, they are rather temperamental when the tablet is woken; sometimes the connection is left intact, sometimes the application fails to re-connect, and I have to disable and re-enable WiFi to re-establish the connection. This is a new toy, bought purely to run MediaMonkey (which has problems due to the network connection on wake), and I’m still finding my way with it; sometimes, the WiFi connection comes up as ‘limited’, and there’s quite a bit of internet discussion on that problem.

XP Pro SP3 failed to store the credentials, and I had to enter a password for one network drive every time I booted. Having entered credentials for one drive, all the others connected automatically.

My Android devices, on the other hand, stay resolutely connected, whether in sleep or not; whether they leave my network and then return. They re-connect without fail.

I don’t know what the ‘answer’ is, but I think the problem lies with Windows.

Are there any 3rd party apps on Windows that will keep the mapping intact?

When you mapped the Share did you put a check in the “Reconnect at logon” box?

Often with Windows 7 I will get an error about being unable to reconnect to mapped drives when I reboot or turn on the computer. All I do is click on the mapped drive link in Windows File Explorer and the drive will be remapped and the red “X” on the link indicating the mapping is broken will disappear…

Yes I have ticked that option. I too get the Red Cross and upon clicking it opens the drive. But then when I run FreeFileSync application it sometimes tells me drive not available.