It didn't. I was admin on a VAX 11/780 back around 1980. One day I noticed two directories contained the same files and assumed they were duplicate do I deleted

It didn't. I was admin on a VAX 11/780 back around 1980. One day I noticed two directories contained the same files and assumed they were duplicate do I deleted one copy to open up some disk space (we were using RM80 disks). Then I noticed that the files had disappeared from both folders, because they were hard linked. I was like "oh shit" because they were system files. I called support and they helped restore the files from tape and then I rebooted. So I can honestly say that VMS is very similar to Unix in that respect.