Storage Disk Types

Lesson 4 · Storage

Disk Types

Every storage tier a cloud provider offers is really a trade-off between three things: cost, capacity, and access speed. Understanding that balance is the starting point for choosing the right disk for the right workload.

4.1

Disk Types

Cloud service providers (CSPs) offer various levels, or tiers, of storage management. Each tier represents a relationship among storage cost, capacity, and access speed — using different underlying technologies, including solid-state drives (SSDs) and spinning hard disk drives (HDDs).

AWS Elastic Block Storage (EBS) is a good example of managing storage capabilities, dividing volume types between SSD and HDD technologies. EBS also includes replication within availability zones for geographic security and availability. When comparing storage options, pay attention to the balance of cost versus performance. Click a volume type below to see where it sits on that trade-off.

← ACCESS SPEED → ← COST →

SSD

HDD

Hybrid

Long-term / archival

Before you price anything out — it's easy to underestimate the quantity of stored data in an on-premises network. During the design phase, carefully inventory all data, and categorize it based on how frequently users and applications actually access it.

INFO — SSD technology has taken a long time to catch up to HDD capacity, but the gap is closing. While SSD is more expensive, the performance trade-off is often worth the extra cost.

§ 4.1 · Disk Types