What is Symlink (Backlink)?

We will learn how you can make file backlinks on Mac OS finder. Firstly we need to know what is Symlink (Backlink).

A symbolic link called symlink references the original file. A symbolic link is a file that acts as a shortcut to another file. This makes it easy to move and share data between multiple locations. For example, If you have a folder called “Awesome,” stored on “C:/Jhons/My Folder/Myy_files.txt,” The file is stored physically in this location on your drive.

A symlink is essentially a shortcut. If you want to use the file called “Myy_files.txt” from other users on your network, You need to copy the file and store the file physically with other users. It’s a time-consuming thing and a wasteable data thing for your SSD. You can create non-physical files. These files will appear there instead of where they were initially located! It will look like a shortcut On your desktop.

Symbolic links are also helpful for backing up important files or sharing them with other users on your network—you can store these copies in different places without physically transferring them from place to site whenever something changes around your system. Let’s know about that.

Make File Backlinks On Mac OS Finder

To create a symlink,

Open Terminal, press the Spotlight key, and type “Terminal.” This will open the program in a new window.

• Now create a new source file or select an existing source file.
• Let’s have a source file that name is “Myy_files.txt.”
• Now you need to type Ln – s ( Then you will have the source file and then your symlink file ).

Hardlinks aren’t used as much as symbolic links. There are uses for them, But we won’t discuss them in this article. Ensure to include ( – S ); otherwise, you’ll create a hard link that will create an exact copy of the file that stays linked.

• Type Ln – s Myy_files.txt ( Space ) ( for the backlink, write a new name that needs to be used ).

Example: Ln – s Myy_files.txt newname.txt

• Now press Enter.

WoW! You have created a Symlink. Now you may see a new text file. The name is “newname.txt.” And just like I mentioned, it’s going to be a shortcut. You may see a little shortcut icon it shows up. As a shortcut in Mac, and it behaves like a shortcut.

It will show the exact text on your originally located text file (“Myy_files.txt”). And it will behave like you are opening your file ( “Myy_files.txt” ). If you open “newname.txt,” Then it’s opening “Myy_files.txt.”

If you delete Your original file (“Myy_files.txt”), you’ll see the symlink will be broken. Because the symlink is not pointing anywhere or the symlink isn’t able to find the original file.

The original file will be stored somewhere else on your computer (like in the Documents folder). Still, when Finder executes it, it will take that location as its destination and create an exact copy of itself instead!

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Tips

We learned how to make file backlinks on mac os finder. This creates a symbolic link called symlink that references the original file—removing the original file breaks because both files are counted as missing in the Finder app. If you make a symlink to a directory, then it acts like a directory instead of just referencing one specific file within that directory.

There you have it! Now you know the things, You may now make your backlinks today!