File (NAS) vs. Block (SAN) vs. Object Cloud Storage

When designing your application’s architecture, one of the most important considerations from both a cost and performance standpoint is what type of data storage to use.

Unfortunately for startups and lone developers, most of the descriptions around data storage are highly generalized or highly technical without much in between. It is no surprise considering the cloud storage and computing platforms are the ones explaining the topics. Just type “file vs. block vs. object storage” into Google and you’ll find several platforms explaining/advertising their products.

In this post, I hope to explain data storage in a way that those from all backgrounds (not just IT) can understand.

Ephemeral Storage

We first must understand what “ephemeral” storage is, as it explains why we need cloud storage in the first place.

Take a moment to think about what a cloud computing and storage company provides. Among others, they provide virtual machines and storage. If you had 1 large server in your house and wanted to rent it out, how would you do it? Would you find a single customer and give them access to the entire server? Chances are, that customer will not use all…