# Clone of repo with symlinked files creates copies not links

**URL:** <https://discuss.dvc.org/t/clone-of-repo-with-symlinked-files-creates-copies-not-links/855>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Created:** [August 25, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/clone-of-repo-with-symlinked-files-creates-copies-not-links/855 "2021-08-25T17:52:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sidmayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@sidmayer](https://discuss.dvc.org/u/sidmayer)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/clone-of-repo-with-symlinked-files-creates-copies-not-links/855/1 "2021-08-25T17:52:42Z")

</div>

I created a simple test repository with structure similar to this (there are actually a couple more levels of subfolders, but that does not change the issue):  
data/  
repo/  
1.png (actual image files)  
2.png  
working/  
1.png symlink to actual 1.png created using “ln -s …/repo/1.png 1.png”  
Did a dvc add of everything in the data folder “dvc add data”, then git add, etc.  
Pushed the dvc repository to a Google cloud remote, and pushed git to a remote.  
Finally, create a fresh working folder, then:  
git clone   
dvc pull  
This DOES create the right folder structure but the working folder contains a full copy of 1.png, not a symlink to 1.png.  
Is this expected? Is there a way to have DVC cache and re-create a symlink rather than just follow it and end up with two copies of the file?  
Thanks!