How to Map a Network Drive / Server to Mac OS X

This method connects to and maps a network drive or network share that will disappear if the network connection drops, is disconnected, or if you reboot your Mac:

From the Mac OS X Finder, hit Command+K to bring up the ‘Connect to Server’ window

Enter the path to the network drive you want to map, ie: smb://networkcomputer/networkshare and click ‘Connect’

Enter your login/password and click “OK” to mount the network drive.

The drive will now appear on your desktop and in the Finder window sidebar:

You can access the network share like any other folder at this point, so long as it’s maintained on the same network.