NTFS supports Reparse Points -- MS's name for hard links -- so it's possible to have two paths refer to the same file. There is a function you can call to get the GUID of the Reparse Point. Judging by the name, this should be unique across all devices and machines.

On a given FAT device, the path is the unique identifier (once "." and ".." are properly removed). However, it is tricky to determine whether two devices are the same (in part or in whole). Given 

net use z: \\127.0.0.1\c$
net use y: \\127.0.0.1\share_c
net use x: \\10.0.0.5\c$
net use w: \\tribble05\c$
subst v: c:\

net use u: \\127.0.0.1\c$\dir
net use t: \\127.0.0.1\share_dir
subst s: c:\dir

[download]
the following could all refer to the same file: 
c:\dir\file

z:\dir\file
y:\dir\file
w:\dir\file
v:\dir\file
x:\dir\file

u:\file
t:\file
s:\file

[download]

It's even trickier once virtual drivers and shares on non-Windows machine come into play.

In reply to Re: Uniquely identifying files on windows by ikegami
in thread Uniquely identifying files on windows by Anonymous Monk

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