---
title: "Hard link"
url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-hard-link
category: "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."
updated: 2026-10-01T05:35:57.000Z
---

# Hard link

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.

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](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat) can't store hard links.

See also: [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps) · [Sparse file](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-sparse-file)

## What links here

- [Sparse file](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-sparse-file)
- [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps)
- [exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat)