Chapter 39: AWS Storage
AWS Storage (or more precisely: AWS Cloud Storage Services)
When people say “AWS Storage”, they usually mean the entire family of storage services that AWS offers — because unlike a laptop where you have only one hard disk, AWS gives you more than 15 different kinds of storage, each built for a very specific job.
Think of AWS Storage like a huge supermarket in Hyderabad (Hi-Tech City style) with many different aisles:
- Aisle 1 = objects (photos, videos, backups) → S3
- Aisle 2 = fast block storage for databases & VMs → EBS
- Aisle 3 = shared file system for many servers → EFS
- Aisle 4 = ultra-fast local SSD for high-performance workloads → Instance Store
- Aisle 5 = cold/archive storage for rarely accessed data → S3 Glacier / Deep Archive
- Aisle 6 = data lake & analytics storage → S3 + Glue + Athena
- And many more…
You never buy “one storage” — you pick the right type for each use-case, and very often you use 3–5 different storage services in the same application.
Let me walk you through the most important ones like we’re walking through that supermarket together — slow, with real analogies, Hyderabad startup examples, 2026 pricing reality, when to use what, and a clear summary table.
1. The Big 5 – The Storage Services 95% of People Use
| Rank | Service | Storage Type | Best For (Simple) | Durability / Availability | Typical Hyderabad Example (2026) | Approx Monthly Cost (moderate usage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon S3 | Object storage | Files, images, videos, backups, static website, data lake | 99.999999999% (11 9s) | Store user-uploaded photos/videos, host React frontend | ₹800–3,000 |
| 2 | Amazon EBS | Block storage | Databases, EC2 boot volumes, high-performance apps | 99.999% | RDS database storage, EC2 instance root volume | ₹1,500–5,000 |
| 3 | Amazon EFS | File storage | Shared file system for many EC2 / Lambda / ECS instances | 99.999999999% | Shared media folder for content team, WordPress shared files | ₹2,000–8,000 |
| 4 | Amazon FSx | Managed file systems | Windows file shares (SMB), Lustre for HPC, NetApp ONTAP | Varies | Windows-based legacy apps, high-performance computing | ₹5,000–20,000+ |
| 5 | S3 Glacier / Deep Archive | Archive storage | Long-term backup, compliance archives, rarely accessed data | 99.999999999% | 7-year compliance backups, old project archives | ₹200–1,000 |
2. Deep Dive – The Most Important One: Amazon S3 (The King of Storage)
Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is the most used storage service in the world — it is the foundation for almost everything else.
- Stores objects (files + metadata)
- Unlimited scale (no practical limit)
- Extremely durable (11 9s = you lose 1 object in 10 million years statistically)
- Many storage classes (Intelligent-Tiering, Standard, Glacier Instant, Glacier Flexible, Deep Archive)
Common S3 use cases in Hyderabad startups 2026:
- Store user-uploaded photos/videos (Instagram-style)
- Host static website (React/Vue frontend)
- Store backups & logs
- Data lake for analytics (S3 + Glue + Athena)
- Serve media via CloudFront (fast global delivery)
Real example – short-video app:
- User uploads reel.mp4 → mobile app PUTs to S3 bucket “telugu-reels-raw”
- S3 Event Notification → triggers Lambda to transcode video
- Transcoded versions saved to “telugu-reels-processed” bucket
- CloudFront distribution front-ends both buckets → videos served from Hyderabad Edge Location → <10 ms load time
- Old videos after 90 days → automatically move to S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval (still fast access if needed) → save 60–70% cost
S3 pricing example (ap-south-2 – Hyderabad Region):
- Standard storage: ~₹1.8–2.0 per GB/month
- 1 TB stored → ~₹1,800–2,000/month
- 10 million GET requests → ~₹300
- Data transfer out to internet → first 100 GB free, then ~₹6–8/GB
3. Quick Comparison – When to Choose Which Storage
| Your Need | Best Service(s) | Why? (2026 reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Store photos, videos, backups, logs | S3 (Standard / Intelligent-Tiering) | Unlimited, durable, cheap, global via CloudFront |
| Fast block storage for database / boot disk | EBS (gp3 or io2) | High IOPS, snapshots, multi-attach |
| Shared file system (many EC2 / Lambda need same folder) | EFS (Standard or One Zone) | NFS, scales to petabytes, pay for what you use |
| Windows file share (SMB) | FSx for Windows File Server | Native SMB, AD integration |
| High-performance computing / ML training | FSx for Lustre or EBS io2 | Very high throughput & IOPS |
| Long-term archive / compliance (rare access) | S3 Glacier Deep Archive | ~₹0.1 per GB/month, retrieval in hours |
4. Quick Hands-On Feel – Create Your First S3 Bucket
- Console → S3 → Create bucket
- Name: “my-hyderabad-photos-2026” (must be globally unique)
- Region: ap-south-2 (Hyderabad)
- Block public access (keep safe)
- Upload a photo → open object URL (won’t work yet)
- Edit bucket → Permissions → Block public access → uncheck (careful!) → Bucket policy to allow public read
- Open URL → your photo is now publicly hosted on AWS!
Cost? Usually ₹0–10 for testing (first 5 GB free, requests free tier).
Summary Table – AWS Storage Cheat Sheet (2026 – India Focus)
| Question | Answer (Beginner-Friendly) |
|---|---|
| What is AWS Storage? | Family of 15+ services — pick the right one for each job |
| Most used storage service? | Amazon S3 (object storage for files, backups, websites) |
| Fast block storage for EC2/RDS? | Amazon EBS (gp3 most popular) |
| Shared file system for many servers? | Amazon EFS (NFS) |
| Long-term cheap archive? | S3 Glacier / Deep Archive |
| Best Region for Hyderabad? | ap-south-2 (lowest latency + compliance) |
| First thing to try? | Create S3 bucket → upload photo → make public → share link |
Teacher’s final note: AWS Storage is not “buy one disk” — it is “choose the right tool for each job”. Most Hyderabad startups in 2026 use S3 + EBS + EFS as the core trio, with Glacier/Deep Archive for backups and CloudFront in front of S3 for speed.
Got it? This is the “where do I actually put my files, databases, and backups?” lesson.
Next?
- Deep dive on S3 storage classes + lifecycle rules?
- How to choose between EBS gp3 vs io2 vs EFS?
- Or full example: S3 + CloudFront + Lambda thumbnail generator?
Tell me — next whiteboard ready! 🚀💾
