It’s important to know the main differences between Object Storage vs Block Storage when you need to find the right storage solution for your business or application. This complete guide explains everything you need to know about these two types of storage architectures, so you can make a smart choice that meets your needs.
What is Block Storage?
Block storage breaks up data into blocks of a set size, each with its own unique ID. It’s like a regular hard drive, with data stored in certain places that the operating system can get to directly. Each block works on its own, which makes reading and writing very fast.
How Block Storage Works
Block storage looks like a raw block device to the operating system, just like a real hard drive. After that, the OS can format this storage with any file system it knows how to use. Block storage is very fast and efficient for apps that need to change data often because it gives you direct, low-level access.
Key characteristics of block storage:
- Data stored in fixed-size blocks (typically 512 bytes to 64KB)
- Direct access through operating system
- High IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second)
- Low latency for read/write operations
- Suitable for structured data
What is Object Storage?
Object storage keeps data in separate objects in a flat address space called buckets or containers. Block storage has a hierarchical structure, but object storage has a simple namespace where each object has the data, metadata, and a globally unique identifier.
How Object Storage Works
Files turn into objects that are stored in buckets with lots of metadata in object storage systems. REST APIs and HTTP protocols let applications get to these objects. This web-friendly method makes object storage perfect for cloud-native apps and systems that are spread out.
Key characteristics of object storage:
- Data stored as complete objects
- Flat namespace structure
- REST API access via HTTP/HTTPS
- Rich metadata capabilities
- Highly scalable architecture
- Built-in redundancy and durability
Read full article: https://serveravatar.com/object-storage-vs-block-storage/