Windows Hard Link [better] (480p — 8K)

A symlink is like a sticky note that says "go look in C:\Other\file.txt" . If you move or delete file.txt , the symlink breaks.

echo Hello > original.txt mklink /H link.txt original.txt type link.txt # Output: Hello echo World >> original.txt type link.txt # Output: Hello World /H is the crucial flag—without it, mklink creates a symbolic link by default. New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path "C:\links\link.txt" -Target "C:\data\original.txt" Or with the shorter alias: windows hard link

| Feature | Hard Link | Symbolic Link | |---------|-----------|----------------| | Points to | File data (inode) | Pathname (string) | | Survives target deletion | Yes (data still exists) | No (becomes broken) | | Works across volumes | No | Yes | | Works with directories | No (by design) | Yes (with privilege) | | Relative paths | N/A | Yes | | Network paths | No | Yes (UNC paths) | A symlink is like a sticky note that

You can view the link count using:

Every normal file you create is actually a hard link already—it's just that there's only one link to that data. When you create a second hard link, you're telling Windows: "This data should also appear at this other path." New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path "C:\links\link