Description: A hard link is a directory entry that associates a name with a file in a file system. Unlike a symbolic link, which acts as a pointer to another file, a hard link creates a direct reference to the same inode in the file system. This means that multiple file names can point to the same physical content on the disk. If the file is modified through one of the links, the change is reflected in all other links pointing to the same inode. Hard links are useful for file management as they allow the creation of multiple accesses to the same file without duplicating disk space. However, hard links generally cannot be created for directories (with some exceptions depending on the file system) and cannot cross different file systems. In various operating systems that support hard links, this feature allows greater flexibility in organizing and accessing files, facilitating data management and reducing redundancy in storage.
