Blob, Files, Queues, Tables and Disks

A storage account can hold several kinds of data service. Each is designed for a different kind of data.

Azure Blob Storage

Blobs (binary large objects) store massive amounts of unstructured data: text or binary data with no fixed format.

Good for:

• images, videos and documents served directly to a browser,
• backups, archives and disaster-recovery data,
• data for analysis,
• streaming audio and video.

Blobs are organised into containers and reached over HTTP/HTTPS. Blob storage is where the hot, cool, cold and archive tiers apply.

Azure Files

Azure Files provides fully managed file shares in the cloud, reachable over the standard SMB (and NFS) protocols. You can mount an Azure file share on Windows, Linux and macOS, just like a network drive.

Good for:

• replacing or extending on-premises file servers,
• "lift and shift" of applications that expect a file share,
• shared configuration files and tools.

Azure Queue Storage

Queue Storage stores large numbers of messages (up to 64 KB each) that applications use to communicate asynchronously. One part of an application adds work to the queue; another processes it later, so the parts do not have to run at the same speed.

Azure Table Storage

Table Storage stores large amounts of structured, non-relational (NoSQL) data as key/attribute entities, with a schemaless design. Good for things like user data, device information and metadata.

Azure Disk Storage

Azure managed disks are block-level storage volumes used by Azure virtual machines, like a physical hard drive in a server. Azure manages them; you choose the size and performance (from standard HDD to ultra disks).

Which one?