Preserving backslashes in DML

[Tom Kirkman]

What are the options available for inserting\updating a MySQL table
VARCHAR with a string containing backslash characters so that the
backslash characters are preserved as is?  For example, the UNC string
'\\MyServer\MyDir <file:///\\MyServer\MyDir> ' would be changed on the
way in to the VARCHAR to become '\MyServerMyDir'.  What options are
there for specifying that this changing on the way in should NOT be
done?