Linking data will give you a dynamic link so that each time you change a
value in the other spreadsheet the linked spreadhseet will also update.
When you consolidate data the values are pasted without formulas so that
even though you change the values on the original sheet they won't change on
the new one, until you re-consolidate.
Also consolidating is a little easier to select the data, rather than
creating formulas.
Hope this helps.
