Storage Systems (Block, File & Object)

Modern scalable systems store different types of data across distinct storage tiers depending on latency requirements, access patterns, file sizes, and cost constraints.

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1. Storage Types Compared

Storage Tier	Data Model	Access Protocol	Throughput / Latency	Typical Use Cases
Block Storage	Fixed-size raw disk blocks	iSCSI, NVMe, Fibre Channel	Ultra-low latency (< 1 ms), highest IOPS	Database data directories (PostgreSQL, MySQL), VM OS boot drives
File Storage	Hierarchical directory tree (POSIX)	NFS, SMB / CIFS	Low latency, shared concurrent access	Shared team storage, legacy applications, content management
Object Storage	Flat key-value store with rich metadata	RESTful HTTP/S APIs (GET, PUT, DELETE)	High throughput, higher TTFB latency	Photos, videos, ML datasets, data lake backups

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2. Object Storage (AWS S3 & Compatible Stores)

Amazon S3 and compatible systems (MinIO, Google Cloud Storage, Cloudflare R2) are the global standard for unstructured data persistence.

Bucket: my-production-app
  ├── avatars/user_101.png       (Key: avatars/user_101.png)
  ├── videos/hls/stream_720p.m3u8
  └── backups/postgres-2026-08-16.sql.gz

AWS S3 Storage Classes & Tiers:

Storage Class	Durability	Availability	Retrieval Speed	Relative Cost	Best Fit Workload
S3 Standard	99.999999999% (11 9s)	99.99%	Milliseconds	$$$$	Active user uploads, static website assets
S3 Standard-IA	11 9s	99.9%	Milliseconds	$$	Monthly reports, disaster recovery copies
S3 Glacier Flexible	11 9s	99.99%	Minutes to Hours	$	Historical compliance records, 1-year logs
S3 Glacier Deep Archive	11 9s	99.99%	12 to 48 Hours	¢	Multi-year cold data archives

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3. Storage Selection Matrix

Is the data structured with relations?       ──> Yes ──> Relational Database (Postgres)
                     │
                    No
                     ↓
Do you need high IOPS database disk volumes? ──> Yes ──> Block Storage (AWS EBS)
                     │
                    No
                     ↓
Do multiple servers need POSIX file sharing? ──> Yes ──> File Storage (AWS EFS)
                     │
                    No
                     ↓
Are they images, videos, audio, or backups?  ──> Yes ──> Object Storage (AWS S3 + CDN)