inode is a data structure that stores files metadata Hard link: is basically a mirror copy of the original file pointing to an underlying inode, you can create multiple copies of the file which will point to the same underlying inode, when the file is deleted, the link to inode is deleted and when all the links to inode is deleted the inode itself gets deleted commond: ln Soft link: is like a shortcut to the original file, soft link created a link to the original file. if the original file is deleted the link is broken and the soft link becomes useless. Soft links have a different inode number than the original file. Command: ln -s