[SOLVED] single inode pointing to various files on same hard drive

sumeet inani · 06-28-2009, 11:26 PM

I searched for file with inode number 100 in /
OUTPUT along with verification was

ls -i /sys/module/vt/parameters/default_grn
100 /sys/module/vt/parameters/default_grn

ls -i /windows/E/software/UsbSafelyRemove_4.0.5.707/UsbSafelyRemove\ 4.0.5.707/App/USB\ Safely\ Remove/Languages/Chinese-Simplified.lng
100 /windows/E/software/UsbSafelyRemove_4.0.5.707/UsbSafelyRemove 4.0.5.707/App/USB Safely Remove/Languages/Chinese-Simplified.lng

ls -i /windows/D/general\ awareness/FACTS.doc
100 /windows/D/general awareness/FACTS.doc

My question is how can three files have same inode number?Does each inode point to lot of files.

Jerre Cope · 06-29-2009, 12:42 AM

An Inode is the address where the file connects to the file system. Any number of file names may be connected to a single Inode, which means that they are really the same file, regards of their locations within the file system.

do a man on the ln command and you will see how to create files with a common Inode.

chrism01 · 06-29-2009, 12:43 AM

Each partition has its own inodes set.
That's why you can't hardlink across partitions.
http://www.linfo.org/hard_link.html