Q:

Is "physical path" physical?

In Windows OS, the term "physical path" appeared here and there.
Is "physical path" physical at all? 
Is it related to the hard disk physical structure?

A:

The "physical path" of an object is its actual location within the file system, as specified by a sequence of directories starting from the root and not including any shortcuts/symbolic links.
This is compared to a "relative path", which is a path beginning at the current directory, rather than the root, and which may involve shortcuts, or to a "logical path" which may, for example, be a path specified in a URL and which doesn't necessarily correspond directly to a path in the file system.
It's not related to the hard drive's physical structure, but only to the data and metadata stored on it. (Except that, at the most literal level, all data is stored physically by orienting magnetic fields or charging capacitors or burning into a disc with a laser.)

