

With hardlinks you would have both. File content can have multiple names pointing to it. That name basically includes the directory tree. So you can have ~/downloads/song.flac and ~/media/music/artist/album/song.flac. Both would point to exactly the same data on the drive. Not just a copy, but exactly the same spot on the drive.
As to why, see OPs post.




















Hence the saying “A picture is more data than a thousand words.”