Mac OS X Tiger: Accessing Remote Volumes and Folders

By Bob LeVitus from Mac OS X Tiger For Dummies

Here are three ways you can make using remote volumes (file shares) and folders easier when using Mac OS X Tiger. The first is to use aliases, the second is to use OS X's Sidebar, and the third uses aliases and the Dock. The following sections describe each of these methods.

Setting up a shortcut using aliases

After you've mounted a volume for the first time, you can make it easier to use in the future by creating an alias for it. The next time you want to use that volume, just opens the alias, and the Connect dialog appears. You type your password, and the volume appears (is mounted) on the Desktop. No Connect to Server; no other dialogs; no muss and no fuss.

You can do this to any folder within the volume, too. It works just the same with one minor difference: The alias opens that folder, but it also mounts the volume that contains the folder — and opens it, too. If you find this bothersome, just close the Home folder's window. The folder within — the one for which you made the alias — remains open, and you can continue working with it.

Setting up a shortcut using the Sidebar

Here's another easy way to mount a volume: Just click the remote volume's icon (or any folder icon within that volume), and then, while it's selected (highlighted), choose File --> Add to Sidebar (or press Command+T) from the Finder's menu bar. An alias to the remote volume or folder appears in the Finder Sidebar and Sidebars of all Open and Save dialogs.

Setting up shortcuts in the Dock (and on the Desktop)

If you use remote folders often, follow these steps to create a folder that sits on your Dock, ready to call remote computers at your very whim:

1. Log in to each remote volume (or folder) you want included in the shortcut folder on your Desktop.

2. Create an alias for each remote volume or folder to which you want easy access.

3. Move the aliases that you created in Step 2 to a new folder on your Desktop (call it Remote Folders or something equally obvious).

4. Drag the Remote Folders folder onto the Dock.

Here are two easy ways to open any volume or folder in the Remote Folders folder:

• You can open the Remote Folders folder and double-click any of the aliases in it.

• You can click and hold (or Control+click) the Remote Folders icon in the Dock, which causes a menu to pop up that shows all the aliases in the Remote Folders folder.

Either way, that volume or folder appears on your Desktop almost instantly.