Choose the best storage type based on your requirements between object storage and block storage.
Object storage:
Object storage is a data storage architecture for storing unstructured data that sections data into units—objects—and stores them in a structurally flat data environment. Each object includes the data, metadata, and a unique identifier that applications can use for easy access and retrieval.
- It is good for storing static content.
- It works very well for unstructured data sets where data is mostly read. It’s more of a "Write Once, Read Many Times" [WORM] storage type.
- It is both cost-effective and highly scalable.
- Resilient storage type: replicate data across multiple devices and geographical locations.
- It provides a searchability feature.
- It is used for back-up and archiving, software distribution, data lakes, and big data environments.
Block storage:
- Data is stored in blocks where files are split into evenly sized blocks. Each block has its own address, but unlike objects, they do not have metadata.
- Block storage is useful for businesses that handle a lot of transactional data or for mission-critical applications that demand constant performance with little latency.
- It is good for dynamic content storage.
- It can be expensive.
- It requires an operating system to access blocks.
- Limited scalability
- The latency increases with the distance between the storage and the application.