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# How to check if hardlinks are working

You've followed the guide step by step but still want to check if hardlinks are working, or someone on the Sonarr/Radarr support team asked you to check if your files are hardlinked?

You can use 3 options to check if you got working hardlinks.

All methods require you to login to your terminal with PuTTY or similar software.

Attention

You can't create hard links for directories

You can't cross file systems

## Usenet

If you use usenet these examples won't work because you make use of instant moves/atomic moves and not hardlinks.

Still want to test if it works ?

Test a import of a 4k remux (or any other big file and you should notice it's almost instant) and not a slower and more I/O intensive copy + delete.

## Method 1: Using ls

This is the easiest to check in my opinion.

In your terminal `cd` to your download location and run `ls -al` or type `ls -al /path/to/your/download/location/`

You will get a listing of all your files and on the left side you will see a couple of numbers, every file with a number above 1 are hardlinks.

- Red rectangle - Not Hardlinked
- Green rectangle - Hardlinks
- Blue rectangle - Folders/Directories you will need to go in to them to check if the files are hardlinked.

## Method 2: Using stat

This way requires a bit more work.

- In the terminal type: `stat /path/to/your/download/location/file.mkv`

- In the terminal type: `stat /path/to/your/media/location/file.mkv`

You will get 2 results you can use to compare several things.

1. Links: Everything above 1 means it's a hardlink
2. Inode: if the numbers match you know the files are hardlinked

## Method 3: Using Inode copies

- In your terminal `cd` to your download location and run `ls -i file.mkv` or type `ls -i /path/to/your/download/location/file.mkv`

This will reveal the inode of your file on the left side of the file.

- In your terminal type: `find /mnt/user/data/ -inum ###` or `find . -inum ###` if you're in your root folder.

`###` = Your inode number on the left of the file you found.

It will list all files linked with the same inode number.

Last update: July 10, 2022 10:17:18
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