Using Mosaic Dataset on Shared Network Drive?

Question

I'm working with several colleagues at the same academic institution and we all have access to a shared network drive. Within this network drive, each of us has our own folder where we store our own geospatial data.

Using ArcMap 10.5, I've created several mosaic datasets - mostly for land cover data - within a colleague's folder (on the shared network) who is the lead on a project, but the source rasters are within my own folder on the shared network drive. When I view these mosaic datasets on my computer, everything works fine: the overviews are correct and if I bring one of the source rasters into ArcMap, there are no problems. However, if my colleague (the same person who has the folder where the mosaic datasets are located) attempts to bring the mosaic datasets into ArcMap on his computer, all he sees is a gray rectangle, and if he attempts to load the source rasters individually from the dataset, all that appears again is a gray rectangle. The appearance is not the only problem; when the source raster is loaded from the dataset, its name is changed and the range of pixel values also changes.

Why is this not loading correctly on his computer, only on mine? I've checked for broken paths, and there are none. Could this be a problem with using a shared network drive with the source rasters located in my folder, and the mosaic dataset in someone else's folder?

Answer 1

Thank you Mattropolis for pointing out my error. The mosaic dataset is on a local area network, and therefore UNC paths need to be used (e.g., \Server\Volume\File) rather than local file systems paths (e.g., C:\File) when referring to the collection of rasters within the mosaic dataset.

I've repaired the paths (by clicking on the mosaic dataset, then selecting Modify, and then choosing Repair) and the mosaic datasets are now working correctly.