Azure Storage Overview

Azure Storage is a general file and data management service that supports a variety of data types that can be used independently or with other Azure services.

Storage is managed and paid for through one of two account types: general purpose and blob storage.

• General purpose storage accounts can have any combination of Azure storage types.
• Blob storage accounts are specialized accounts for Block and Append blobs only and provide the unique ability to select between Hot, Cool, and Archive pricing tiers.

Blobs Store and Archive Unstructured Data

Blobs store unstructured data as objects such as binary files (for example, audio, video, and photos) and text files (for example, documents and equipment logs). They are also used by various Azure services, such as SQL Data Warehouse and Cosmos DB. Blobs are offered in three types: Block, Append, and Page.

Block blobs can be sized up to 4.75TB and, although random access to data within a Block blob is not supported, Block blobs are transferred in small sections (blocks), and interrupted transfers can continue from the last block successfully transferred.