👋 Introduction

Storage is the memory of the cloud.
No matter how powerful your EC2 servers are or how secure your VPC setup is — without proper storage, nothing works.

Today on Day 4 of my AWS Zero to Hero journey, I explored the world of AWS Storage, and wow, it’s like opening a toolbox filled with different kinds of lockers, drives, and warehouses — each designed for a unique purpose.

In this article, I’ll explain AWS storage services like S3, EBS, and EFS using real-world analogies, technical explanations, and practical use cases.

🔍 Why So Many Storage Options?

In the real world, we don’t store everything in one place.

For clothes, we use wardrobes.
For valuable jewelry, we use lockers.
For goods, we use warehouses.

Similarly, AWS offers different storage types for different needs.

3 Main Categories of AWS Storage

Object Storage – Best for unstructured data like images, videos, and backups.
Service: Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)
Block Storage – Best for high-performance, low-latency storage like OS files or databases.
Service: Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store)
File Storage – Best for shared file systems across multiple servers.
Service: Amazon EFS (Elastic File System)

1. Amazon S3 — The Digital Warehouse

Imagine S3 as a massive online warehouse where you can store any object — images, videos, logs, or backups.

Key Features:

Buckets: Think of buckets as containers or folders.
Durability: 99.999999999% (11 nines!) — like a vault that never fails.
Storage Classes: Choose between Standard (frequent use), Infrequent Access, or Glacier (archival).

Example:
If you’re running a photography website, every uploaded photo can be stored in S3. You don’t worry about disk space — it scales automatically.

2. Amazon EBS — Your Cloud Hard Drive

When you launch an EC2 instance, it needs a “hard drive” to store the OS and application files. That’s EBS.

Key Points:

Block Storage: Data is stored in chunks for fast read/write access.
Attached to EC2: An EBS volume works like plugging a USB drive into your laptop.
Snapshots: You can take backups easily.

Example:
If EC2 is a running virtual machine, EBS is its C: Drive where the OS and programs live.

3. Amazon EFS — The Shared Drive

Ever used a shared folder in an office network? EFS is the cloud version of that.

Key Points:

Multiple EC2s can access the same EFS at the same time.
Fully managed & scalable — no need to plan storage space.

Example:
You’re hosting a website with multiple EC2 servers. They all need access to the same set of images. EFS allows all servers to read/write from a single storage location.

When to Use What?

Need a file dump for images, backups, or logs? → Use S3.
Need OS-level storage for EC2? → Use EBS.
Need shared storage between multiple EC2s? → Use EFS.

Other AWS Storage Services You Should Know

AWS Glacier: Ultra-low cost archival storage (data retrieval takes time).
AWS FSx: Fully managed Windows/Linux file systems.
AWS Storage Gateway: Connects your on-premise storage to AWS.

📌 Practical Example: A Video Streaming Platform

Upload raw videos to S3 (cheap, scalable storage).
Transcode videos on EC2, which uses EBS for OS and processing files.
Serve frequently accessed metadata from EFS so multiple servers can share the same files.

Key Takeaways

AWS storage is not one-size-fits-all — choosing the right one saves cost and improves performance.
S3 = warehouse, EBS = hard drive, EFS = shared folder.
You can combine these services for powerful workflows.

📺 Video That Helped Me:

Click here :- AWS STORAGE

#AWS #Storage #S3 #EBS #EFS #CloudComputing #BuildWithRajesh #100DaysOfCloud #LearningInPublic

Day 4 of My AWS Journey: Understanding AWS Storage (S3, EBS, EFS) in the Simplest Way Possible

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