Object vs Block Storage

💾 Introduction to Object vs Block Storage

When choosing a cloud storage solution, understanding the difference between Object Storage and Block Storage is essential. Both are widely used, but they serve different purposes depending on the application’s performance, scalability, and structure needs. Let’s break down how each works and when to use which.

📦 What is Block Storage?

Block storage divides data into fixed-size blocks and stores them separately, each with a unique identifier. It behaves like a hard drive and is typically used in databases, virtual machines, and applications requiring high performance and low latency.

// Example: AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS)
resource "aws_ebs_volume" "example" {
  availability_zone = "us-west-2a"
  size              = 100
  type              = "gp2"
}

Block storage offers low-latency and is well-suited for transactional data and structured storage.

🗂️ What is Object Storage?

Object storage stores data as individual objects in a flat address space, each with metadata and a unique identifier. It's ideal for storing large volumes of unstructured data such as images, videos, backups, and logs.

// Example: AWS S3 Bucket
resource "aws_s3_bucket" "example" {
  bucket = "my-object-storage"
  acl    = "private"
}

Each object includes metadata, making it easy to retrieve and manage. Object storage is highly scalable and perfect for modern applications like big data and AI workloads.

⚖️ Key Differences Between Object and Block Storage

🚀 Use Cases

Block Storage

• Relational and NoSQL databases
• Virtual machines and OS boot drives
• Low-latency transactional workloads

Object Storage

• Media streaming services
• Data lakes and analytics
• Cloud-native applications
• Disaster recovery and backup solutions

🔒 Security Considerations

Both storage types offer encryption and access control features. However, object storage often supports advanced metadata-based access policies, while block storage relies more on infrastructure-level access control.

// Example: Enabling S3 Bucket Encryption
resource "aws_s3_bucket_server_side_encryption_configuration" "example" {
  bucket = aws_s3_bucket.example.bucket

  rule {
    apply_server_side_encryption_by_default {
      sse_algorithm = "AES256"
    }
  }
}

💡 Which One Should You Choose?

The choice depends on your workload:

• Choose Block Storage when you need fast, low-latency access to structured data.
• Choose Object Storage for high scalability, cost-efficiency, and storing large unstructured datasets.

🔚 Conclusion

Understanding Object vs Block Storage is key for making the right infrastructure decisions. While block storage is ideal for performance-critical apps, object storage provides unmatched scalability and durability. Cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP support both, enabling you to build flexible and efficient architectures.