Cloud Storage
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
Cloud storage is just storing your files on someone else's servers in the cloud instead of your own hard drive. The big cloud providers offer it in different flavors depending on what you're storing — files, blobs, databases, or archives. Google Drive and iCloud are cloud storage for regular humans.
Real Talk
Cloud storage encompasses various services for persisting data in the cloud: object storage (S3, GCS), block storage (EBS, Persistent Disk), file storage (EFS, Filestore), and archival storage (Glacier). Each type has different performance characteristics, cost profiles, and access patterns.
When You'll Hear This
"All media assets are in cloud storage." / "Cloud storage is cheaper than running your own NAS for this volume of data."
Related Terms
Blob Storage
Blob storage is just a fancy name for storing unstructured data — images, videos, PDFs, audio files, any binary stuff.
Block Storage
Block storage is like a virtual hard drive that you attach to a cloud server.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing means using computers that live in someone else's giant warehouse instead of your own machine.
File Storage
File storage in the cloud is a shared network drive that multiple servers can mount at the same time.
Object Storage
Object storage treats files as 'objects' — each one gets a unique key (like a URL) and is stored with its data and metadata.
S3 (Simple Storage Service)
S3 is Amazon's giant file locker in the sky.