How to make and access Steam Backup/Restores from the network (Tutorial)

[₪ova²]

Many of us now have NAS solutions with several Terra-Bytes of storage for backing up our files to. More recently I have noticed that Steam no longer conveniently supplies an executable file when making a backup. And the backup tools provided by Steam do not have the option/ability to brows (or even be pointed to) a network location, which it important if your using a NAS (or similar solution) for your personal backups and storage.
I managed to figure it out on my own. But I searched a little bit more on this subject and found many places where someone has asked how to do this, but the questions I found that did get answered were vague and unclear. So I figured I would clarify this subject a bit more for those who are still trying to figure this out.



HOW TO ACCESS A NETWORK LOCATION WITH STEAM BACKUPS:
What you need to do is "Map a Network-Drive", which in lamens terms creates a short cut to a shared folder on the network giving it a functional drive-letter that shows up and is recognized as a drive on your computer.
By doing this you can create a selectable drive to be used with Steam Backups.

To setup a mapped network drive in Windows7:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-shortcut-map-network-drive#1TC=windows-7

To setup a mapped network drive in Windows 8/8.1:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-shortcut-to-map-network-drive


If for whatever reason you wish to remove the mapped network drive:
Open up "Computer" or "This PC" and find the network drive that you wish to remove, right-click on it and select "Disconnect", and windows will remove the drive mapping. This will not effect anything on the NAS, just remove the drive mapping (short-cut).

[KieSeyHow]

Because of various crypto-virus and malware threats, do not leave network drives mapped all the time. Only connect them when you need them, then disconnect them after you have finished using them. Also make sure your NAS and network shares are not set for write access for all files and folders by default.

[washedupgrunt]

You sir, are a bloody good man. Cheers Nova!