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Level 1

0 points

Network drive volume name for same folder by multiple users

I am using a 1TB USB hard disk attached to a ASUS RT-AC68U wireless router as network drive. There are multiple user accounts created on the same MacBook Air and they need to access the same folders on the network drive. For example, we have folder called "iTunes" created on the network drive.

The following steps resulted in some problems encountered.

Step 1: When user1 mounts the iTunes folder as a network drive, the general info shows:

General:

Kind: Volume

Server: smb://rt-ac68u/iTunes

Name & Extensions:

iTunes

Step 2: When user2 mounts the same iTunes folder as a network drive, the general info shows:

General:

Kind: Volume

Server: smb://rt-ac68u/iTunes

Name & Extensions:

iTunes-1

Question: Why does OS X assign "iTunes-1" as the name of the same network folder on the network drive for user2? Is there a way to retain the same original folder name for user1 and user2, such as "iTunes", so that it can be access as "/Volumes/iTunes" by both these users?

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), OS X Server 3.1.1

Posted on Jun 8, 2014 10:19 PM

Best reply

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Posted on Jun 9, 2014 1:33 AM

When user 1 mounts the disk the file path /Volumes/iTunes is empty.

When you switch accounts & mount the disk as user 2 file path /Volumes/iTunes already exists and is in use. The OS can only add a number to the name to make it different.

If you want this to work you have 2 choices that I can see…

Create a share for each user with a different name that way they will not conflict. Both users can mount & it should work fine.
Disable fast user switching and make a logout script to eject the disk, add the script to every user.

It turns out Apple don't recommend logout scripts anymore…

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/macosx/conceptual/bpsystem startup/chapters/CustomLogin.html

2. Your second option is to reboot between 'fast' user switching or to remember to unmount the disk before logout.

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17 replies

tastyrico Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 14, 2014 10:16 AM in response to Drew Reece

Thanks Drew, evaluating NAS with team. If we find something that will serve us for the longer, will update this thread.

tastyrico Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 22, 2014 7:27 AM in response to tastyrico

Promised Drew that will update this thread regarding our investigation around using a NAS solution to overcome the problem. Outcome = NAS alternative is still NOT viable if we are still using SMB protocols to mount the network volume and folder. We are using the NAS cloud as an interim solution.

Going back to drawing board and rethinking the collaboration strategy with team, leaning towards a cost effective VPC. Wish I had more favourable outcome to report but I don't at this time.

Network drive volume name for same folder by multiple users