{
  "schema": "https://storagestudio.us/schema/wiki-page.v1",
  "title": "Hard link",
  "slug": "glossary-hard-link",
  "url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-hard-link",
  "markdown_url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-hard-link.md",
  "category": "Glossary",
  "category_url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary/",
  "tags": [
    "glossary",
    "metadata",
    "moving folders"
  ],
  "summary": "A hard link is a second name for the same file on the same disk, so its contents are stored only once. Folder moves keep hard links as links.",
  "published_at": "2026-10-01T06:16:26.000Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-01T05:35:57.000Z",
  "headings": [],
  "links_out": [
    {
      "slug": "glossary-exfat",
      "label": "exFAT",
      "exists": true,
      "url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat"
    },
    {
      "slug": "what-a-move-keeps",
      "label": "What a move keeps",
      "exists": true,
      "url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps"
    },
    {
      "slug": "glossary-sparse-file",
      "label": "Sparse file",
      "exists": true,
      "url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-sparse-file"
    }
  ],
  "links_in": [
    {
      "slug": "glossary-sparse-file",
      "title": "Sparse file",
      "url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-sparse-file"
    },
    {
      "slug": "what-a-move-keeps",
      "title": "What a move keeps",
      "url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps"
    },
    {
      "slug": "glossary-exfat",
      "title": "exFAT",
      "url": "https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat"
    }
  ],
  "diagrams": [],
  "images": [],
  "screenshots_pending": [],
  "faqs": [],
  "text": "A hard link is a second name for the very same file on the same disk. Both names show the same contents, which are stored only once; change it through one name and the other sees the change. Deleting one name leaves the file reachable through the other. You rarely make hard links yourself, but some tools — especially developer tools — use them to avoid storing identical files twice. When Storage Studio moves a folder between your Mac and your external drive, hard links inside what you move stay hard links. That matters for space: a copy that turned each name into a separate full file would take more room on the drive than the folder took on your Mac. A drive formatted as exFAT can't store hard links. See also: What a move keeps · Sparse file",
  "markdown": "A **hard link** is a second name for the very same file on the same disk. Both names show the same contents, which are stored only once; change it through one name and the other sees the change. Deleting one name leaves the file reachable through the other.\n\nYou rarely make hard links yourself, but some tools — especially developer tools — use them to avoid storing identical files twice.\n\nWhen Storage Studio moves a folder between your Mac and your external drive, hard links inside what you move stay hard links. That matters for space: a copy that turned each name into a separate full file would take more room on the drive than the folder took on your Mac. A drive formatted as [exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat) can't store hard links.\n\nSee also: [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps) · [Sparse file](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-sparse-file)\n"
}