how to map a shared folder to a drive

[exodusbhz]

Hi there!

Is there a way to map a shared folder as a drive on MacOS Sierra guest?

The VMware Shared Folders are accessible through Finder but I need a special folder mapped as a drive.

Thanks in advance.

[ChipMcK]

A DOS guest has no VMware Tools, so no Shared Folder support

[wila]

Hi,

I was a bit confused at your request as an external disk is just mounted under Volumes like network shares  and -yes also- VMware Shared Folders gets mounted down there.

So I went to a macOS Sierra guest of mine and added Shared folder access.

The icon for the share is added to the desktop like normal (as would external disks) and it shows up here like this:

$ mount
/dev/disk0s2 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
.host:/VMware Shared Folders on /Volumes/VMware Shared Folders (vmhgfs)

The "mapping as a drive" concept is a Windows one, it doesn't really exist within macOS.

You're not saying why you need it that way, which might help.

One thing you might be able to do is to create a dmg file via Disk Utility. Create it at the file share as read/write and mount that.

It behaves more closely to external disks, but .. without knowing what you are trying to do that's just a suggestion.

--

Wil

[exodusbhz]

Thanks for the answers!

I am asking this because I want to perform a disk benchmarking using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.

My original dilema is this:

I have an external hdd formatted using NTFS.

So I want to know which one is the best way to access it's contents considering speed:

1 - Through VMware Shared Folder concept under USB 3 connection.

2 - Direct access inside the guest using USB 2 connection.

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test don't recognize the shared folder as a disk, so I can't perform the test.

[wila]

Hi,

I guess it depends on what mechanism your benchmark software uses, as it is "black magic" (pun intended) I guess we'll never know.

FWIW, there's a big difference if your need is fast big files versus fast on many small files.

For VMware Shared Folders, also known as Host Guest File Sharing (HGFS), the latter one is known to be slow, but with sharing big files it performs quite well.

While HGFS is convenient for exchanging files between guest and host, I personally would not even consider it in a scenario where I need reliable, fast, continuous file sharing between a guest and host.

Also not sure why you only talk about USB2 from the guest as my Sierra guest does support USB3.

You mention using an external disk formatted as NTFS, I take it you are aware that macOS Sierra by default does not enable write to the disk (you have to manually enable that)

Finally if you have a need to concurrently access the files from both guest and host, then your external disk scenario might end up being a hassle as only one OS can have access at the same time. So it is either your guest or your host that is connected.

If you really need fast and reliable shared file access then I'm afraid that the answer is to use industry standards and use network file sharing alternatives.

--

Wil

[exodusbhz]

Hi again!

This was not an answer, this was a lesson!

Thank you so much for your time and for sharing such a knowledge.