[exclusive]: Hard Link Windows

1. What Is a Hard Link? A hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file on the file system. In simple terms: it’s an additional filename that points directly to the same physical file data on disk.

\Users\Me\Documents\notes.txt \Backups\notes_backup.txt \Archive\2023\notes.txt In CMD:

fsutil hardlink query "filename" Or use PowerShell: hard link windows

– You need cross‑volume, directory, or network links → use symbolic links or junctions. You want a pointer that can be broken or that shows target path → use a symlink.

BOOL CreateHardLinkW( LPCWSTR lpFileName, // new link name LPCWSTR lpExistingFileName, // existing file LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpSecurityAttributes // (optional) ); Find all hard links to a file Using fsutil (Command Prompt, admin not always required): In simple terms: it’s an additional filename that

fsutil hardlink list "filename" Example output:

mklink /H C:\Backups\important.pdf C:\Users\Me\Documents\important.pdf mklink /H requires administrator rights? No – regular users can create hard links to their own files. (But creating links to system files may need elevation.) Using PowerShell New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path "LinkName" -Target "TargetFile" Example: BOOL CreateHardLinkW( LPCWSTR lpFileName, // new link name

New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path C:\Links\report.txt -Target C:\Data\report.txt PowerShell 5.1+ supports this natively. For older versions, use cmd /c mklink /H . Call CreateHardLinkW :