Posted by Grover Righter on June 15, 2019

As our reliance on technology grows, so does our need for efficient and cost-effective data storage solutions. We’ll explore two popular storage technologies: object storage and block storage, their key differences, and their strengths and weaknesses, so you can choose the right solution for your organization.

What Is Object Storage?

Object storage is a data storage architecture that manages data as distinct units, known as objects. Each object contains the actual data, metadata, and a unique identifier. The metadata stored alongside the data can include information such as creation date, size, and custom attributes. This approach to data storage offers substantial benefits in terms of scalability, cost-efficiency, and ease of use. It is a primary form of storage used in cloud computing infrastructure.

Key characteristics of object storage include:

Flat address space

Object storage uses a flat address space, meaning that there’s no hierarchical structure like you’d find with traditional file systems. This lack of hierarchy allows for massive scalability, as there’s no need to manage complex file paths or directory structures. Objects can be stored and retrieved using their unique identifier, making it easy to find and access data regardless of its size or location.

Data durability and redundancy

Object storage solutions often employ erasure coding and data replication techniques to ensure data durability and redundancy. Erasure coding breaks data into smaller pieces and adds redundancy, while data replication creates copies of the data across multiple storage nodes. Both techniques help to protect against data loss, ensuring that your information remains secure and available even in the event of hardware failures.

RESTful APIs

Object storage systems typically use RESTful APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for communication between clients and the storage system. These APIs allow developers to easily integrate object storage into their applications, streamlining data storage and retrieval processes.

What Is Block Storage?

Block storage is a data storage architecture that divides data into fixed-size blocks, each with a unique address. Block storage devices, such as hard disk drives and solid-state drives, use block-level access protocols like iSCSI and Fibre Channel to read and write data. This storage method is ideal for low-latency, high-performance environments where data access speed is crucial.

Key characteristics of block storage include:

Block-level data access

Block storage systems provide direct access to the underlying storage blocks, allowing for high-speed data reads and writes. This low-latency access is particularly beneficial for applications that require rapid access to data, such as databases and virtual machines.

File system abstraction

Block storage devices present a file system abstraction to the host operating system, meaning that they appear as a traditional file system to the user. This abstraction allows users and applications to interact with the storage device using familiar file and directory structures, simplifying data storage and retrieval.

Data consistency

Block storage systems employ various data consistency techniques, such as journaling and copy-on-write, to ensure that data remains consistent and accurate. These techniques help to prevent data corruption and loss, making block storage a reliable option for critical data storage requirements.

Now that we’ve explained the basic capabilities of object storage and block storage, let’s see how they go head to head.

Object Storage vs. Block Storage: Cost

Cost is a crucial factor in data storage, and both object storage and block storage solutions have their own cost considerations.

Cost Efficiency

Object storage is generally more cost-efficient than block storage, primarily due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness at scale. As the volume of data increases, object storage’s flat address space and erasure coding techniques can provide substantial cost savings compared to block storage.

Access Costs

One potential drawback of object storage is access costs. Retrieving data from object storage can be more expensive than block storage due to the additional overhead associated with the retrieval process. Block storage, on the other hand, provides direct access to data and typically incurs lower access costs.

Hardware Costs

Large-scale block storage often requires specialized hardware, such as Fiber Channel switches, which can be expensive to implement and maintain. Object storage, on the other hand, can use commodity hardware, making it a more cost-effective option for smaller organizations or those with limited budgets.

Object Storage vs. Block Storage: Scalability

Scalability is a critical consideration in data storage, particularly as data volumes continue to grow exponentially.

Scalability at Scale

Object storage’s flat address space and erasure coding techniques make it highly scalable, even at petabyte-scale data volumes. Block storage’s reliance on file systems and hierarchical structures can limit scalability, particularly as data volumes increase.

Elasticity

Object storage’s scalability extends to elasticity, allowing organizations to adjust storage capacity on-demand to meet changing data storage requirements. Block storage’s scalability is typically more rigid, requiring more planning and management to scale effectively.

Data Distribution

Object storage’s scalability and elasticity make it an ideal solution for distributed data storage. As organizations grow and expand, object storage can provide a cost-effective and efficient way to store data across multiple locations.

Object Storage vs. Block Storage: Performance

Performance is another crucial consideration in data storage, particularly for applications that require rapid data access.

Latency

Block storage typically offers lower latency than object storage, making it better suited for applications that require rapid data access, such as databases and virtual machines. Object storage’s additional overhead can result in higher latency, particularly for small data access requests.

Throughput

Object storage can provide higher throughput than block storage, particularly for large data access requests. Object storage’s erasure coding and data replication techniques allow for parallel data access, resulting in faster data transfers.

Workload Optimization

Choosing the right storage solution for your workload is critical in optimizing performance. Organizations that require high-speed data access may benefit from block storage, while those with large data volumes may benefit more from object storage’s scalability and cost-effectiveness.

Object Storage vs. Block Storage: How to Choose

Choosing between object storage and block storage ultimately depends on your specific data storage and management requirements.

Object storage is ideal for storing unstructured data such as multimedia files, backups, and archives. It’s also well-suited for distributed data storage, data analytics, and big data applications.

Block storage is ideal for storing structured data such as databases and virtual machines. It’s also well-suited for high-performance applications that require low latency and high throughput.

  • Consider your workload: Consider the workload for which you’re storing data. Applications that require high-speed data access may benefit from block storage, while those with large data volumes may benefit more from object storage’s scalability and cost-effectiveness.
  • Evaluate cost: Object storage is generally more cost-effective than block storage, particularly at scale. However, retrieval costs can be higher with object storage, so it’s essential to evaluate the total cost of ownership for each storage solution.
  • Evaluate scalability: Object storage’s scalability and elasticity make it an ideal solution for distributed data storage, while block storage may be more limiting in terms of scalability.
  • Evaluate performance: Block storage typically offers lower latency and higher performance for applications that require rapid data access, while object storage can provide higher throughput for large data access requests.

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