This 30-year previous Windows function permits you to duplicate a file with out losing any storage

Say you need to copy a file to a different folder in your Windows PC, however not for backup functions. If you simply need to have the identical file seem in a number of folders, you don’t have to repeat it the same old approach, the place every copy takes up the complete quantity of space for storing. What you are able to do as a substitute is tough hyperlink it, which makes the identical file present up in one other folder, indistinguishable from the unique, with the advantage of this “copy” not utilizing any further storage.

Here’s how arduous hyperlinks work

File names are simply tips to the precise file, and arduous linking creates one other file title

Hard hyperlinks have been part of Unix since its very starting. Because of that, Unix-like desktop working programs similar to macOS and Linux help arduous hyperlinks as properly.

As for Windows, help for arduous hyperlinks arrived with Windows NT 3.1, the primary model of Windows to ship with the NTFS file system. However, the help was restricted for years. Microsoft allowed common Windows apps to create arduous hyperlinks with Windows 2000, and Windows Vista was the primary model to incorporate a straightforward, built-in approach for customers to create them.

A tough hyperlink is nothing greater than one other title for a file that’s stored in your storage drive. What’s necessary is the file itself. In the case of Windows and NTFS, each file has a file within the Master File Table (MFT), which is a core database of the NTFS file system.

The title of that file is a pointer that directs the working system and apps to the file’s file within the MFT. So once you arduous hyperlink a file, you don’t copy the precise information. You simply create one other title for it, which factors again to the identical file. This is why arduous linking a file doesn’t use any further storage. In reality, the unique title of the file can also be a tough hyperlink, since all it does is level to the file’s file within the MFT.

When you copy a file, although, you really create a brand new file with its personal file within the MFT and its personal copy of the information. If you copy it to a different NTFS drive or partition, it goes into that drive’s personal MFT. Since you create a brand new file, it makes use of up the identical quantity of storage as the unique, whereas a tough hyperlink doesn’t, because it’s merely one other title for a similar file, not a brand new file itself.

The catch is that onerous hyperlinks include just a few limitations

Since arduous linking a file simply creates a brand new title that factors to the very same file, and doesn’t create a brand new file like copying does, arduous linking permits a single copy of a file to be current in a number of locations on the identical NTFS partition with out utilizing any further storage. You can create dozens of arduous hyperlinks to a file in varied folders throughout the partition, they usually received’t take up any further house.

So, for instance, you probably have a 5GB video out of your 2025 trip in a folder named “2025,” you may arduous hyperlink it to a different folder, say, the “Videos” folder, and the video within the “Videos” folder received’t use any further house, since it should simply be one other title that exhibits Windows and apps the place to search out the precise file.

As quickly as you create a tough hyperlink, Windows received’t distinguish between the names, nor will it see the primary title as particular. Each title is seen as an equal arduous hyperlink, with solely a single actual copy of the file present. You can delete the unique video from the “2025” folder, however the file will nonetheless be current as a result of there’s a tough hyperlink to it within the Videos folder. The precise file is deleted solely once you delete the final arduous hyperlink. You may also rename every arduous hyperlink with out affecting different arduous hyperlinks; their names will keep the identical.

Conversely, you probably have a number of arduous hyperlinks of the identical file, you may edit any of them and they’re going to all present the change. So when you open one arduous hyperlink of a textual content doc and add a paragraph, as quickly as you save the adjustments, each arduous hyperlink will open the identical, up to date doc. When you copy a file, then again, every copy is a separate file, and enhancing one received’t have an effect on the others.

For this motive, arduous hyperlinks can’t be used as backups. If the file will get corrupted, every arduous hyperlink will open the identical, corrupted file. Hard hyperlinks produce other limitations as properly. For occasion, you may solely arduous hyperlink a file throughout the identical drive or partition, which has to make use of the NTFS file system. You can’t arduous hyperlink it to a different drive or partition. Other file programs in use on Windows, similar to FAT32 and exFAT, don’t help arduous hyperlinks in any respect. You can also’t arduous hyperlink folders, solely particular person recordsdata.

It’s additionally price noting that some apps save edits by making a brand-new file and swapping it in, as a substitute of saving adjustments to the identical file. This quietly breaks the arduous hyperlink, so the opposite hyperlinks nonetheless open the previous model.

By default, it’s important to use Command Prompt or EnergyShell to create arduous hyperlinks

This technique could be actually tedious, although

Another limitation of arduous hyperlinks is that it’s important to use Command Prompt or PowerShell to create them, since Windows doesn’t have a local GUI device for creating arduous hyperlinks. The process could be tedious, particularly when you aren’t used to the command line, however no less than it’s comparatively easy, and also you don’t want administrator rights.

If you favor utilizing Command Prompt, you must sort the next:

mklink /H "path of latest arduous hyperlink" "path of present file"

Let’s say I need to arduous hyperlink the Rufus executable, which is situated within the Installers subfolder of my Downloads folder, on to the basis of the Downloads folder. In that case, I must sort the next:

mklink /H "C:UsersAdministratorDownloadsrufus-4.9.exe" "C:UsersAdministratorDownloadsInstallersrufus-4.9.exe"

Once I hit Enter, Command Prompt confirmed that the arduous hyperlink was created, and as you may see within the screenshot on the prime of this part, the Rufus executable now exhibits up instantly within the Downloads folder. Just remember that the mklink command solely works in Command Prompt, so it received’t work when you sort it in EnergyShell.

If you favor EnergyShell, the suitable command is:

New-Item -ItemSort HardLink -Path "path of latest arduous hyperlink" -Target "path of present file"

In my Rufus instance, the command would appear like this:

New-Item -ItemSort HardLink -Path "C:UsersAdministratorDownloadsrufus-4.9.exe" -Target "C:UsersAdministratorDownloadsInstallersrufus-4.9.exe"

Link Shell Extension permits you to create arduous hyperlinks with only a few mouse clicks

While Microsoft hasn’t bothered to make a GUI device for arduous linking, developer Hermann Schinagl created a tiny free device for the job, and it really works nice in Windows 11. Link Shell Extension integrates into the right-click menu in File Explorer, and it additionally works in Total Commander. I didn’t take a look at it in different Windows file managers, nevertheless it ought to work in them as properly.

Using Link Shell Extension is tremendous easy. All it’s important to do is set up the app and let it restart Explorer.exe (be sure to’re not copying or transferring recordsdata in File Explorer on the time). Once the app’s put in, right-click any file, click on Show extra choices, after which click on Pick Link Source. Now go to wherever you need to arduous hyperlink the file, right-click an empty house, click on Show extra choices, then choose Drop As, and click on Hardlink. Every arduous hyperlink of the file, together with the unique, will get a crimson arrow, so that you’ll at all times know which recordsdata are arduous hyperlinks.

Even although Windows can’t arduous hyperlink folders, Link Shell Extension permits you to arduous hyperlink each file in a folder, together with any subfolders it could comprise. All it’s important to do is right-click any folder, click on Show extra choices, click on Pick Link Source, then go to the vacation spot, choose Drop As and click on Hardlink Clone. This will create a brand new folder with the identical title as the unique, with arduous hyperlinks to each file in it.

Hard hyperlinks can’t substitute actual copies, however they’re nonetheless helpful

As lengthy as you keep in mind that onerous hyperlinks aren’t actual copies, they are often fairly helpful. While you may’t use them for backups, you should utilize arduous hyperlinks for varied different functions. For occasion, you may hold the identical giant file in a number of places with out losing storage, share recreation recordsdata between a number of emulators or media recordsdata between completely different apps, arrange recordsdata with out having to create new copies, and extra. Just make certain all of the recordsdata are on the identical NTFS drive or partition.