Hermann Schinagl

Hermann Schinagl is a veteran Windows developer whose small but influential catalog focuses on exposing and simplifying the NTFS file-system features that Microsoft never put within easy reach. His Link Shell Explorer extension embeds itself directly into the context menu, letting casual users create hard-links, junctions, volume mount-points and symbolic links with the same drag-and-drop familiarity as copying a file; no command prompt, elevated PowerShell or arcane “mklink” syntax is required. Administrators who prefer automation turn to the companion console utility ln, a self-contained “Swiss-army knife” that mirrors entire folder trees while preserving reparse points, deduplicates backups through hard-links, or syncs incrementally by comparing time-stamps and re-using existing link structures instead of re-copying data. Together the tools turn terabyte-level photo archives, developer SDK trees or versioned document stores into lightweight, space-saving repositories that appear duplicated in every necessary location yet occupy storage only once. Because both programs respect Windows security boundaries and long-path conventions, they are routinely embedded in server-side backup scripts, CI pipelines, and portable environment launchers where traditional copy commands would balloon disk usage. Link Shell Extension and ln are offered gratis on get.nero.com, delivered through trusted Windows package sources such as winget, always installing the newest release and permitting batch deployment of both utilities in a single operation.