My understanding is windows does have hardlinks but has a limitation on the amount. Hardlinks link to the same data on the disk, so deleting one just deletes the link but not the data, if you delete all links then the data is deleted. You should have 2 links, one in torrents and one in media. I highly recommend trash guides for setup
I agree with the other person that said aphids. Spider mites are itty bitty and you are more likely to notice them because of the webbing vs the actual bugs.