How I Use Azure Storage for My Blog Images and Family Backup

Richard Lewis
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I’ve been using Azure Storage for quite some time now, and it’s become an essential part of how I manage my blog images and family files. But before I explain how I use it, here’s a quick overview of what Azure Storage is.

Azure Storage is a cloud-based storage solution from Microsoft, first launched back in 2010 as part of the Azure cloud platform. It offers scalable, durable, and secure storage for a wide variety of data types. Think of it like a hard drive in the cloud, but not tied to a reseller.

Hosting Blog Images for Free

One of the simplest and most practical uses for Azure Storage in my setup is hosting the images for this blog. Instead of embedding images directly on the blog hosting provider or paying extra for CDN services, I store all my blog images in an Azure Storage Blob container configured for static website hosting. This lets me serve images efficiently with virtually no cost beyond the minimal storage fees, which are practically negligible given the size and traffic of my site.

Having the images hosted separately also makes it easy to manage and update content without redeploying the entire blog. Plus, since Azure Storage has a global CDN option, my readers get fast load times no matter where they are.

Family Photos and Files Backup Strategy

Beyond the blog, Azure Storage plays a critical role in my family’s backup strategy. We have about 4 TB of important family photos, videos, and files — memories and documents we want to protect long-term.

I use Azure’s cool and cold storage tiers to keep costs low. By storing most of our data in the cold storage SKU, I pay a fraction of what Dropbox or Google Drive would charge for the same amount of storage. The trade-off is that cold storage is optimized for data that is accessed infrequently, which fits perfectly with family backups.

To add resilience, this Azure storage is part of a 3-2-1 backup strategy:

  • 3 copies of data PC, NAS, Cloud
  • 2 different media types
  • 1 copy offsite (which Azure provides in the cloud)

The cold tier offers excellent durability and geo-redundancy options, so I feel confident our precious data is safe and accessible if we ever need it.

Overall, Azure Storage has proven to be a versatile, reliable, and cost-effective service that powers both my blog’s image hosting needs and my family’s data backup strategy. If you’re looking for a low-cost cloud storage solution with enterprise-grade durability, it’s definitely worth checking out.

If you want to learn more about Azure Storage, Microsoft has plenty of resources to get started:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/storage/