Storage Types (Object, Block, File)

Object storage for blobs

Object storage keeps files as objects in buckets or containers, addressed by key. It shines for backups, media, static website files, and large unstructured data. AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Google Cloud Storage are the common names.

Block storage for disks

Block volumes attach to a VM like a hard drive. Databases and operating system disks usually need block storage because they expect a mounted filesystem with low-latency random I/O.

File storage for shared mounts

Managed file shares expose NFS or SMB so several machines can mount the same folder tree. Useful for lift-and-shift apps that expect a shared filesystem.

Compare at a glance

• Object: cheap at scale, HTTP/API access, eventual consistency nuances vary by product
• Block: one primary attachment pattern, database-friendly
• File: shared POSIX/SMB semantics, higher cost and complexity than plain object

Talk to a bucket from the CLI

After configuring credentials, listing buckets is a harmless first storage check.

# AWS
aws s3 ls

# Azure
az storage account list --output table

# Google Cloud
gcloud storage buckets list