Hard Link: Very similar to a symbolic link, a link is a standin for the file so that it is easy to keep a single file updated and have several links where necessary. A hard link cannot be deleted without having the original file deleted where as a symbolic link CAN be deleted without needing to delete the file being pointed to.

This difference is sometimes used to advantage -- by having two hard links to the same file, the file is somewhat protected from deletion.

Also note that hard linking can only occur within a single partition -- soft links can occur across partitions.

Other Resources

• http://lists.ebbs.com.au/pipermail/ice-linux/2001-May/000289.html -- Interesting facts and "tricks" with hard links. (At one point one of the writers talks about hard links only within the same filesystem -- it is just as accurate and more helpful (IMHO) to say hard links only within the same partition.)

Contributors

• JasoK - 20 Jan 2002
• RandyKramer - 21 Jan 2002
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