Storage
Object, block, and file storage patterns.
6 terms
The three storage shapes — object, block, and file — exist because no single model is right for every access pattern. Object storage (S3-style) is cheap and durable but not mountable as a filesystem and not built for frequent small updates. Block storage (EBS-style) behaves like a raw disk a single instance attaches to. File storage adds a shared filesystem multiple instances can mount at once. Picking the wrong one shows up as either a cost problem or a performance ceiling, usually months after the initial choice.
This is a small category by entry count, but each one carries real operational weight — object storage alone underpins a huge share of what actually runs in a modern cloud stack, from static assets to data lake storage for analytics and AI training pipelines.
- Elastic Block Store (EBS)
AWS's network-attached block storage for EC2 — persistent virtual disks that live independently of the instance. The durable disk under your databases and boot volumes.
- Elastic File System (EFS)
AWS's managed, elastic NFS — a shared filesystem many instances mount at once, growing and shrinking automatically, priced well above block or object storage.
- Glacier Deep Archive
AWS's cheapest storage tier — roughly $1 per terabyte per month — for data you must keep but almost never read, with retrieval measured in hours.
- Object Storage
Cloud storage that keeps files as objects in flat buckets accessed over HTTP — cheap, effectively unlimited, and the backbone of cloud data.
- S3 Object Lock
A compliance storage parameter enforcing write-once-read-many retention windows on object storage buckets.
- Simple Storage Service (S3)
AWS's foundational object store — eleven nines of durability, virtually unlimited scale, and the storage-class and egress decisions that decide your bill.