from https://www.serverless360.com/blog/azure-blob-storage-vs-file-storage
Microsoft offers several options to store data on the cloud. Each option has its unique purpose for serving different business needs. One of the significant capabilities that Microsoft Azure provides is the agility to migrate to different storage options if required.
There are various options available in the Azure Storage Account for storing user data.
- Blob Storage
- File Storage
- Table Storage
- Queue Storage
- Disk
This blog tries to differentiate between Azure Blob Storage and File Storage which is available in Azure Storage Account.
Introduction
Blob Storage
Azure Blob Storage is an object storage solution for the cloud. Blob Storage allows you to store a massive amount of unstructured data. The unstructured data need not be of the specific data model.
File Storage
Azure Files offer fully managed File shares in the cloud that are accessible via the industry-standard SMB. Azure File shares can be mounted concurrently by cloud or on-premises deployments of Windows, Linux, and macOS. It can be cached on Windows servers with Azure File Sync for faster access.
When to Use
Blob Storage
Azure Blob Storage was designed to serve specific needs. If your business use case needs to store unstructured data like audio, video, images, etc then you should probably go with this option. The objects which are being stored in Blob does not necessarily have an extension.
The following points describe the use case scenarios:
- Serving images or documents directly to a browser
- Storing Files for distributed access
- Streaming video and audio
- Writing to log Files
- Storing data for backup, restore, disaster recovery and archiving
- Storing data for analysis by an on-premises or Azure-hosted service
File Storage
File Storage can be used if your business use case needs to deal mostly with standard File extensions like *.docx, *.png and *.bak then you should probably go with this storage option.
The following points describe the use case scenarios:
- Replace or supplement on-premises File servers
- “Lift and shift” applications
- Simplify cloud development
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Real-time Scenario
Consider a scenario, in a development environment where every developer needs access to IDE and tools without using the internet to download it. At this situation, Azure Blob Storage would meet the need and using which you can only store development tools then give a link to the team to access the Blob location.
For implementing a File server in your organization, you should choose the Azure Files option. A File server is used to share Files across departments in your organization. When it comes to File sharing, end-user should not be allowed to access the copies of the File from its URI and need to be mapped locally in the computers. This is when Azure File Storage fits your need.
Large File Uploading
The common approach used to upload a large File is to split it into chunks. Splitting is not only the function to upload files, but the chunks must
