Difference Between File, Block and Object Storage

Hello, Freaks!

I can answer your question simply according to my experience, there are many experts in the forum, I believe you can get a satisfactory answer.

File Storage

File storage is pretty simple. You give a file a name, give them some attributes, and organize them in your favorite folder structure. Most of these files generally have a general naming convention that is identifiable within the file structure.

Block Storage

Block storages are files that are split into evenly sized blocks of data and each block has its own address but with no other information (metadata) on what that block of data actually is.

Object Storage

Object-based storage stores data in containers known as objects. An object contains 3 parts (data, metadata, and a Unique Identifier). Object storage seeks to enable capabilities not addressed by other storage architectures such as block and file storage. Object-storage systems allow the retention of massive amounts of unstructured data. Object storage is used for purposes such as storing photos on Facebook, songs on Spotify, or files in online collaboration services, such as Dropbox.

The following table briefly summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each.

	Pros	Cons
File Storage	Easy to use Cost effective	Indexing large amounts of files – Limited in Scale Finding files you need
Block Storage	Each block can be treated as independent disk and formatted with file system needed (NFS / NTFS / SMB) Incrementally edit part of a file Better performing than file storage Support external boot systems	High construction cost  Data cannot be shared between hosts
Object Storage	Suited for multi-regional needs Very scalable Cost efficient – hardware	Eventually consistent replication/erasure coding Lacks high-end performance

Hello

File Storage 

The File Storage user is a natural person, which is easy to understand. All the data in a computer is 0 and 1, and the string of 01s stored on the hardware medium is completely unrecognizable and unmanageable. 

Data on storage media is organized into a data structure in the format of directory-subdirectory-file. This data structure is used to find, add, modify, and delete data in the file system. For example, NTFS. 

Block Storage 

A traditional file system is a hardware medium that directly accesses data. The media is not concerned about the organization and structure of the data, so it is the simplest way to organize data: All data is divided into blocks of a fixed size, and each block is assigned a number for address. 

Object Storage 

Object storage is between block storage and file storage. Although the tree structure and path access mode of File Storages are easy to understand, remember, and access, the computer needs to break down the path, and then search down the path level by level to find the required file. This is unnecessary and wastes performance for applications.

good

Thank you for reply!

Hello!
In my case I would explain file storage and block storage like that:
File storage give as files. You can use it as a storage of the files. Just get file storage, put it to the network and make the file share for your users. You don;t need additional server to give users files.

Block storage gives you some kind of disks. When you "connect" it to the server (or other computer) - you have an ability to use storage as a "local disk that is not local". I mean that you can move your disks from the server to the storage. No files, no shares, nor folders. Just virtual disks like you get from the RAID adapter but in other enclosure.

Useful document

Thank you for sharing.