Cloud Data Storage Basics

What Is Object Storage?

Cloud object storage is a scalable, durable way to store files — from raw CSVs to images and logs — without managing physical disks. Data is stored as objects with metadata and a unique identifier, rather than in a traditional folder-based file system.

Data Lakes vs Warehouses

A data lake stores data in its raw, native format at low cost, ideal for large volumes of structured and unstructured data. A data warehouse stores structured, modeled data optimized for fast analytical queries. Many architectures use both: a lake for raw storage, and a warehouse for analytics-ready data.

Organizing Files in a Lake

A common pattern is to organize a lake into layers, such as a raw zone for unprocessed files, a cleaned zone for validated data, and a curated zone ready for analytics — often partitioned by date for efficient querying.

s3://company-data-lake/
  raw/orders/2026/07/01/orders.json
  cleaned/orders/2026/07/01/orders.parquet
  curated/customer_revenue/2026/07/01/part-0000.parquet