<h1id="how-to-check-if-hardlinks-are-working">How to check if hardlinks are working<aclass="headerlink"href="#how-to-check-if-hardlinks-are-working"title="Permanent link"></a></h1>
<p>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?</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>You can use 3 options to check if you got working hardlinks.</p>
<p><em>All methods require you to login to your terminal with PuTTY or similar software.</em></p>
<p><em>All methods require you to login to your terminal with PuTTY or similar software.</em></p>
<divclass="admonition warning">
<pclass="admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p>You can't create hard links for directories <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></p>
<p>You can't cross file systems <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></p>
<ul>
<li>You <strong>CAN'T</strong> create hardlinks for directories <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></li>
<li>You <strong>CAN'T</strong> hardlink across separate file systems, partitions, or mounts <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></li>
<li>Some file systems, such as exFAT, are known not to support hardlinks and should be avoided (double-check if you are unsure!)</li>
<p>If you use Usenet these examples won't work because you make use of instant moves/atomic moves and not hardlinks.</p>
<p>Still want to test if it works?</p>
<p>Test an 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.</p>
<divclass="admonition info">
<pclass="admonition-title">If you are using Usenet, these examples won't work due to making use of instant/atomic moves and not hardlinks.<br><br>Still want to test if it works?<br><br>Test an 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.</p>
</div>
<h2id="method-1-using-ls">Method 1: Using ls<aclass="headerlink"href="#method-1-using-ls"title="Permanent link"></a></h2>
<p>This is the easiest to check in our opinion.</p>
@ -3455,6 +3456,7 @@
<li>Links: Everything above 1 means it's hardlinked</li>
<li>Inode: if the numbers match, you know the files are hardlinked</li>
</ol>
<hr/>
<h2id="method-3-using-inode-copies">Method 3: Using Inode copies<aclass="headerlink"href="#method-3-using-inode-copies"title="Permanent link"></a></h2>
<ul>
<li>In your terminal <code>cd</code> to your download location and run <code>ls -i file.mkv</code> or type <code>ls -i /path/to/your/download/location/file.mkv</code></li>
<p>If you’re wondering why hardlinks aren’t working or why a simple move is taking far longer than it should.</p>
<p>If you’re wondering why hardlinks aren’t working or why a simple move is taking far longer than it should.</p>
<p>Here we will try to explain it.</p>
</div>
<p>This Guide exist out of 4 Sections</p>
<p>This guide consists of 4 sections.</p>
<ol>
<li>This page with a short description.</li>
<li><ahref="/Hardlinks/How-to-setup-for/">How to set up for</a> your installation method.</li>
<li><ahref="/Hardlinks/Examples/">Examples</a> what you should use for your path settings in your used applications.</li>
<li><ahref="/Hardlinks/Check-if-hardlinks-are-working/">Check if hardlinks are working</a></li>
</ol>
<p>So you want one of the following?</p>
<p>So you want one of the following?</p>
<ul>
<li>Instant moves (Atomic-Moves) during import of the Starr Apps (useful when using Usenet)?</li>
<li>You don't want to use twice the storage when using torrents. (hardlinks)?</li>
@ -3474,32 +3492,42 @@
<ul>
<li>[<strong>Short answer</strong>] Having a file in multiple locations without using double your storage space.</li>
<li>
<p>[<strong>Long answer</strong>] Hardlinks are a way for a copy operation to be instant and not consume space for those additional copies.</p>
<p>Every file is a hardlink: some metadata that points at blocks on the file system, <strong>which is why they're restricted to the same file system</strong>. There can be as many metadata files pointing at those blocks as needed and the blocks know how many links point to them. Once the blocks have 0 links, they're considered deleted.</p>
<p>[<strong>Long answer</strong>] Hardlinks are a way for a copy operation to be instant and not consume space for those additional copies.</p>
<p>Every file is a hardlink: some metadata that points at blocks on the file system, <strong>which is why they're restricted to the same file system</strong>. There can be as many metadata files pointing at those blocks as needed and the blocks know how many links point to them. Once the blocks have 0 links, they're considered deleted.</p>
<spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">Your</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">download</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">client</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">can</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">remove</span><spanclass="w"></span><spanclass="n">it</span><spanclass="s1">'s "copy" w/o impacting the library "copy". The library "copy" can be removed by Plex or Sonarr/Radarr or yourself w/o impacting the download client "copy".</span>
<p>You can delete any "copy" without impacting other instances (hardlinks) of it.</p>
<p>Your download client can remove its "copy" without impacting the library "copy". The library "copy" can also be removed by Plex, Sonarr/Radarr, or manually without impacting your download client's "copy".</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Space is only reclaimed once all "copies" of data that are hardlinked are deleted.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Modifying any copy of a hardlinked file will impact all "copies".</p>
<p>For example, modifying the id3 tags of a .mp3 download after import would modify the download client "copy", resulting in breaking the torrent.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_link"rel="noopener noreferrer"target="_blank">More info from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</a></p>
<divclass="admonition warning">
<pclass="admonition-title">Warning</p>
<p>You can't create hard links for directories <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></p>
<p>You can't cross file systems <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></p>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<divclass="admonition warning">
<pclass="admonition-title">Don't forget to read the <ahref="/Hardlinks/Hardlinks-and-Instant-Moves/#hardlinks-limitations">Hardlinks limitations</a></p>
</div>
</details>
<h3id="what-are-instant-moves-atomic-moves">What are Instant Moves (Atomic Moves)<aclass="headerlink"href="#what-are-instant-moves-atomic-moves"title="Permanent link"></a></h3>
<detailsclass="question">
<summary><strong>What are Instant Moves (Atomic Moves)?</strong> - [Click to show/hide]</summary>
<p>A real move and not a copy file from download folder to media folder and then delete file from download folder.</p>
<p>A real move and not a copy file from the download folder to the media folder and then deleting the file from the download folder.</p>
<summary><strong>Hardlinks limitations</strong> - [Click to show/hide]</summary>
<ul>
<li>You <strong>CAN'T</strong> create hardlinks for directories <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></li>
<li>You <strong>CAN'T</strong> hardlink across separate file systems, partitions, or mounts <imgalt="‼"class="twemoji"src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/jdecked/twemoji@15.0.3/assets/svg/203c.svg"title=":bangbang:"/></li>
<li>Some file systems, such as exFAT, are known not to support hardlinks and should be avoided (double-check if you are unsure!)</li>
</ul>
</details>
<h3id="what-are-the-starr-apps">What are the Starr Apps<aclass="headerlink"href="#what-are-the-starr-apps"title="Permanent link"></a></h3>
6 months ago