A hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file or directory on the file-system, in effect creating an alias that may reside elsewhere on the file-system.
23
votes
3answers
2k views
What are the various link types in Windows? How do I create them?
Is it possible to link two files or folders without having a different extension under Windows?
I'm looking for functionality equivalent to the soft and hard links in Unix.
Background:
I have a ...
20
votes
2answers
7k views
What is the difference between NTFS hard links and directory junctions?
The title says it all... what's the difference? When do I use one and when do I use the other?
Added: Note that Junction points, Hard links and Symbolic (soft) links are three separate things on ...
13
votes
6answers
10k views
How can you see the actual hard link by ls?
I run
ln /a/A /b/B
I would like to see at the folder a where the file A points to by ls.
10
votes
4answers
5k views
Using mklink /h results in “Access is denied.”
From command prompt with Administrator privilages:
c:\>mklink /h c:\dirA c:\Users\Piotr\dirB
Access is denied.
I'm on Vista x64. Using /j or /d instead of /h works. What's the problem?
Related:
...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
What is a hard link in Linux?
I have searched around and am trying to understand the difference between a hard link and symbolic link (soft link).
I found this link is quite useful. But I am still not very clear. I understand ...
8
votes
2answers
4k views
Finding all symbolic and hard links to a file on UNIX
If I have a specific file in a UNIX filesystem, is there a way to use bash to find all links to that file, both symbolic and hard? If I need different commands for each, what are they?
8
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I check the actual size used in an NTFS directory with many hardlinks?
On a Win7 NTFS volume, I'm using cwrsync which supports --link-dest correctly to create "snapshot" type backups. So I have:
z:\backups\2010-11-28\cygdrive\c\Users\...
...
7
votes
4answers
2k views
Using NTFS hard links to combine full/differential backups
Short: Is it possible to (robo)copy a directory tree using hard links instead of physical copy?
I want to make a daily backup of my data files, every day in it's own directory. Now most files don't ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
How do you create a working Hard Link in OSX?
Ok, this has me banging my head. In OS X, to create a hard link, in a terminal window, you're supposed to be able to just type this...
ln a.txt b.txt
...and this should create a hard link from ...
6
votes
4answers
3k views
What are the advantages of symlinks over hard links and viceversa?
I understand the differences between symbolic and hard links, but I've never understood why choose one or the other.
5
votes
2answers
154 views
How do I delete a hard link to an executable I don't own?
I used the following command to create a hard link to an executable:
ln `which xcrun` gcc
The link worked as expected. However, it seems I don't have the permissions to remove it.
$ rm gcc
...
5
votes
1answer
633 views
Why does du -sl show different sizes for the source and result of a cp -rl?
I have used cp -rl to copy a folder. When measuring the size of the source and of the result of the copy du -sl returns slightly different sizes, even though diff confirms that their content are ...
4
votes
2answers
5k views
Make a hard link without extra programs in Windows 7
My objective here is to synchronize my emule credit file (application.dat?) by Dropbox. But the credit file is not inside the Dropbox directory (by default). So I want to make a hard link to get this ...
4
votes
2answers
491 views
What are hardlinks on windows 7?
What are hardlinks and how are they different from files?
If i have a hardlink would all apps believe the link is a file? (I had programs not open files because they were shortcuts)
If i modify a ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
How to find hard links on windows
I've created some hard links on my Windows 7 file system using mklink. It was some time ago and I can't remember for sure where, or which files. When I use Explorer, all files look the same. When I ...
4
votes
1answer
1k views
How to create a directory hard link?
I was trying to create a directory hard link (not a symbolic one).
I've tried this: mklink /d /h newfolder currentfolder but it's telling me Access is denied. I don't understand how is access denied ...
4
votes
2answers
869 views
Detect if two files are hard linked in Windows XP
I know I can use the command
fsutil hardlink <new_file> <existing file>
To create a hard link from the command prompt.
My question is: is there a command line tool that will allow me ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
Windows 7 mklink - hard link's attributes (expected !) + contents do not affect the linked file
Now - this is driving me crazy. I created a hard link pointing to a file in my dropbox dir - the link was created inside a folder where this file needs to be in order to be accessed by the programs I ...
4
votes
1answer
301 views
Unix: softlinks, hardlinks
I am somewhat confused what the differences between a softlink, and a hardlink are (on unix).
It seems like a softlink is the same as a shortcut in windows or an alias on Mac OS X. (Can someone ...
4
votes
2answers
3k views
Executing symbolic link to exe - “The specified path does not exist”
When trying to execute a symbolic link which points to an exe file (on Windows 7), the "Open with" windows appears. When renaming it to a ".exe" file, it says "The specified path does not exist. Check ...
4
votes
2answers
131 views
Hard/SymLinks and Alternate Data Streams
An interesting thought just occurred to me while thinking about NTFS.
NTFS supports hard links, symbolic links, and Alternate Data Streams. Is it possible for an ADS to be a link to another file? ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Hard link not works under Mac OS X in GUI mode
I faced a little strange behavior, while using hard links.
From Terminal, I create a text file 1.txt and a hard link "to this file"
nano 1.txt
mkdir dir
ln 1.txt ./dir/
I check the resulting hard ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
Windows7 hardlink over two different drives
I am trying to create a hardlink on my C drive that points to a file on my D drive. I open up a terminal with Administrator privileges and try the following:
C:\Users\sandro>mklink /H _vimrc ...
3
votes
2answers
463 views
What is “ln -L” (--logical) for?
I can read in the ln man page:
-L, --logical
make hard links to symbolic link references
I read somewhere that ln -L could be used to re-link files that were deleted but which are ...
3
votes
1answer
139 views
Editing softlinked files in UNIX
Let's say I have file A, and using 'ln -s A B', I have B.
When I open, edit and save B, now B is not symlink anymore. It's just a new copy of A.
Is this expected behavior? I use Mac OS X, and I ...
3
votes
3answers
915 views
How to properly store dotfiles in a centralized git repository
I'd like to put all my dotfiles (like .profile, .gitconfig, etc.) in a central git repository, so I can more easily keep track of the changes. I did this, but I would like to know how to properly ...
3
votes
2answers
191 views
What operations breaks the hardlinks?
I have a file "a.txt" and its hardlink "ha.txt". If I open either of those files in notepad and save any changes it would appear in both files as they are still linked. But if I overwrite (copy) a.txt ...
3
votes
1answer
181 views
Can I save space in a Maildir by hard-linking identical message files?
Obviously, the answer to the question in the title is yes. But I really want to know if I can do it without breaking anything.
I am using offlineimap to back up my Gmail account to a Maildir on my ...
3
votes
2answers
322 views
What are the pitfalls of hardlinked files on my desktop PC?
All the identical-content files on my PC are now hardlinked. (My data is completely de-duplicated. It is a consequence of the way I copied my data from my old computer.)
What pitfalls do I need to ...
3
votes
1answer
840 views
Unable to preserve hard links. Why?
I'm trying to create a Makefile that would automate remastering Knoppix distribution.
I'm trying to copy filesystem from the read-only compressed loop device to normal filesystem to be able to modify ...
3
votes
3answers
492 views
How to transfer a Time Machine to an NTFS partition (or how to copy HFS+ hard links)
Do you know a way to copy HFS+ hard links to a folder on a HFS+ or NTFS drive?
Before you say it can't be done, I don't want actual backing up functionality of Time Machine, just the ability to ...
3
votes
1answer
554 views
What happens when I backup a symbolic link to a briefcase?
The story: I recently started trying DropBox. After some fiddling, I found I could use an app, DropBoxFolderSync, to sync a folder with DropBox, leaving something called a "Symbolic Link" (which seems ...
3
votes
1answer
324 views
Is it possible to delete a hardlink to a locked file?
In short, I need to do what was asked here:
One hardlink is locked. How do I remove the other?
The given solution doesn't work for me as I'm trying to create/delete a hardlink to a file that is in ...
3
votes
1answer
156 views
hardlinking takes a lot of space
I made an rsync incremental backup script for my server that will copy a MySQL database backup and a specified folder path to a remote server. Here's the code on Github.
Code excerpt from lines ...
2
votes
1answer
271 views
Can someone make sense out of “Hard Links and Junctions” article from MSDN?
At Hard Links and Junctions MSDN article one can read the following:
A hard link is the file system representation of a file by which more
than one path references a single file in the same ...
2
votes
2answers
210 views
How can I find all hardlinked files on a filesystem?
I need to find all hardlinked files on a given filesystem. E.g. get a list of files, each line contains linked pairs, or triplets, etc.
I understand more or less how to do it, one needs to create a ...
2
votes
3answers
655 views
hardlinks on ntfs with windows
How can I create hardlinks for a file on an NTFS partition using Windows?
NTFS can obviously handle hardlinks, since creating them with NTFS-3g works – the links even work in Windows. Is this the ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Make hard-link from Windows' Desktop to cygdrive
When I open Cygwin, I want that I can see the Desktop -folder (I do not want to move its original location, I think the thing I want is hard-link with ln -cmd -- but not sure, this is my first idea to ...
2
votes
2answers
95 views
Windows hard links for directories
How can I make hard links for directories in Windows 7?
That means that the 2 (or more?) linked directories refer to the same inode (group of inodes) so they will be exact duplicated and every change ...
2
votes
2answers
84 views
Netbeans destroys hardlinks on save
I am using Netbeans 7.0.1 on a Linux system.
I have a file
module/test.php
and another one
application/module/test.php
Both test.php files are hardlinks of each other.
When I change ...
2
votes
2answers
813 views
What's the difference between a Windows hard link and a Linux hard link?
The open source package BackupPC does not run on Windows due to its lack of support for hard links. I did a search and came across this document referring to hard links in Windows.
Are these somehow ...
2
votes
1answer
240 views
Generate a list of files by piping output of find command into another find command?
I need to generate a list of files for use in a shell script. The list should be all files (in a specified directory) that are hardlinked. I want to replace the hardlinks with symlinks.
(Obviously, ...
2
votes
1answer
186 views
Using junctions to get all my user files on the backup drive
I generally prefer to back up just my data files, and not my program files, since I can always reinstall the programs. This is easier if I put programs on one hard drive and data on another.
But ...
2
votes
1answer
89 views
TextEdit not caring about hard links? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Hard link not works under Mac OS X in GUI mode
I did a little experiment. First I ran the following in a Terminal:
mkdir test
cd test
echo "A" > a
echo "B" > b
ln ...
2
votes
1answer
149 views
Using hard links to move Windows Users folder
I'm currently trying to move bulky folders from my SSD to my HDD (my Users folder and ProgramData folder). I'm following a short guide on using Directory Junctions to do this effectively.
However, ...
2
votes
2answers
171 views
Make hard links as I copy a directory
I would like to create a bat file to copy a directory, with everything in it (sub-directories, including hidden directories) - by making hard links.
I tested xcopy %source% %destination% /E /C /R /I ...
2
votes
1answer
65 views
Virtual join-directory on Windows
Problem:
Say I have a video spanned over 2 files (vid001.avi & vid002.avi) and each file is on a seperate CD/DVD. If the 2 files are in the same directory my player will automatically play the ...
2
votes
1answer
448 views
Accessing files obscured by filesystem mounted at non-empty directory
I wish to mount a volume/filesystem at a non-empty directory, yet still retain access to the directory's contents. Is this possible?
I know that a filesystem can be mounted at a non-empty directory ...
1
vote
2answers
455 views
Windows hard link taking up space?
On my computer I create a hard link
mklink /h git-link.exe git.exe
Hardlink created for git-link.exe <<===>> git.exe
Now they both take up space
2012-04-17 12:14 AM 6,905,039 ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
bash :: visually distinguishing hard links on ls
I am using bash shell in Ubuntu precise.
I am partial to symbolic links in bash even when a hard link would make more sense because they can be more easily identified with an ls. In contrast, for ...
