Block storage vs object storage vs file storage in HLD - Practice Questions

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Differences in data access methods

Which storage type accesses data as fixed-size chunks called blocks, allowing low-level control and fast performance?

A Object storage

B File storage

C Cloud storage

D Block storage

💡 Hint

Think about storage used by databases and virtual machines.

Block storage divides data into blocks and manages them individually, enabling fast and flexible access. File storage manages data as files in folders, and object storage manages data as objects with metadata.

❓ Architecture

intermediate

Choosing storage for a photo sharing app

You are designing a photo sharing app where users upload images and metadata. Which storage type is best suited to store images with metadata and scale easily?

A Block storage for raw image data

B Object storage with metadata support

C File storage with hierarchical folders

D Local disk storage on user devices

💡 Hint

Consider storage that handles large amounts of unstructured data with metadata.

Object storage is ideal for storing images as objects with metadata and scales well for large datasets. File storage is less scalable and block storage is low-level and not metadata-aware.

❓ scaling

advanced

Scaling file storage for many users

A company uses file storage for shared documents. As users grow, performance drops due to many concurrent file accesses. What is the main limitation causing this?

A File storage uses a centralized metadata server causing bottlenecks

B Block storage cannot handle many files

C Object storage lacks metadata support

D File storage splits files into blocks causing overhead

💡 Hint

Think about how file systems manage file locations and access.

File storage relies on a centralized metadata server to manage file locations, which can become a bottleneck under heavy concurrent access, limiting scalability.

❓ tradeoff

advanced

Tradeoffs between block and object storage

Which statement correctly describes a tradeoff between block storage and object storage?

A Block storage is optimized for large files with metadata, object storage for small fixed-size blocks

B Block storage offers metadata and global namespace, object storage offers low-level control

C Block storage provides low-level fast access but lacks metadata, object storage supports metadata but has higher latency

D Block storage is cheaper and slower, object storage is expensive and faster

💡 Hint

Consider access speed and metadata capabilities.

Block storage provides fast, low-level access without metadata support. Object storage supports rich metadata and global namespace but has higher latency.

❓ estimation

expert

Estimating capacity for mixed storage system

A system stores 10 million files averaging 5 MB each in file storage, 2 million objects averaging 20 MB each in object storage, and 500 TB in block storage. What is the total approximate storage capacity needed?

A About 1.5 PB

B About 2 PB

C About 1 PB

D About 500 TB

💡 Hint

Calculate total size by multiplying counts and average sizes, then sum.

File storage: 10M * 5MB = 50 TB
Object storage: 2M * 20MB = 40 TB
Block storage: 500 TB
Total ≈ 590 TB, closest to About 1.5 PB option.