What Is Storage? A Comprehensive Guide

Whenever I host a website, it’s easy to forget the importance of storage. Every website, however, needs a suitable storage solution for saving everything from your website’s images to its HTML files.

Website storage is a digital space held on a physical piece of hardware, most often a hard drive on a server. It serves as a place to save all website assets, files, and databases.

And you know all those plugins, scripts, and themes you install on your WordPress, Shopify, or Joomla sites? Yes, those all need to go somewhere, too. Storage is a background necessity that houses everything used on your website.

I strongly believe that everyone should understand the basics and the intricacies of website storage. That’s because storage plays a significant role in your website’s performance, speed, and scalability. In this article, I aim to teach you about the basics of web storage, the types of storage available, and how to choose the right storage for your website.

Storage types for web hosting have evolved over my many years of writing about web hosting and design. I’ve found that many of the newer storage options offer unique advantages, but it’s not always necessary to get the latest and greatest.

I like to choose storage based on my budget, use case, and performance requirements, and I think you should too. To guide you along the way, I’ll outline the most common types of web hosting storage below.

Hard Disk Drives (HDD)

HDDs, or hard disk drives, are some of the most traditional storage options for computers and web hosting. An HDD uses a magnetic disk that spins (picture a record on a turntable) within the storage hardware for reading and writing data. Another moving part, called an actuator head, grazes along the surface of the disk to both store data and access it.

I (and most others in the industry) used to consider HDDs the gold standard for most types of digital storage. Now I find, however, that other disk types improve upon HDD technology.

Here’s the main advantage of those more advanced storage options: no moving parts.

Having said that, I still like HDDs for their large storage capacities and lower costs. Those two elements alone make them suitable for many use cases.

Solid-State Drives (SSD)

Solid-state drives, or SSDs, don’t have the moving parts found in HDDs — hence the name, “solid-state.” Fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break. In my eyes, that’s always a good thing.

On an SSD, all read and write operations get processed through digital circuits instead of mechanical items like arms and spinning disks. As a result, I’ve found that SSDs offer improved performance, energy efficiency, and reliability when compared to HDDs.

After many years testing hosts with both HDDs and SSDs, I’ve found that HDDs work well for smaller websites with lower visitor counts, especially since you save money. I also like HDDs if you’re worried about the limited read/write cycles that come with SSDs.

However, you must remember that SSDs offer better durability, performance, and efficiency. Ask yourself, are those more important than price, storage capacity, and read/write cycles? If so, I say you go with an SSD.

Hybrid Drives

I find that many website owners struggle with the choice between HDD and SSD. If that’s you, consider a hybrid solution.

These newer hybrid drives offer a balanced approach to storage. They’re definitely harder to find, but it’s worth looking around for web hosts with SSHDs (Solid-state Hybrid Drives).

You may have to pay a little extra, or opt for a lesser-known hosting company. Either way, I like how hybrid drives have varying levels of performance and storage. This way, you can customize the drive to meet your requirements.

More often than not, though, I encounter SSHDs that put most of your data on cheaper HDDs. That’s actually a good thing, because HDDs are better at holding large amounts of data, and for cheaper than SSDs.

However, SSDs excel at faster processing. SSHDs, therefore, tend to use an SSD for all the data you need to access quickly and regularly.

Do I think you should consider a hybrid drive? For most situations, I’d argue no. A hybrid drive offers faster boot times and near real-time access to very specific data. Most organizations don’t need that.

But I do find hybrid drives intriguing for websites that must store lots of data cheaply. And where a small portion of that data needs accessing regularly.

For example, some eCommerce websites could benefit from a hybrid drive. They need to store lots of user and transactional data but also deliver product data quickly. I also like hybrid drives for streaming services, social media platforms, and news websites.

Cloud Storage

HDD, SSD, and hybrid options provide localized storage within data centers. From my perspective, that’s a double-edged sword. You never have to rely on internet connectivity, but there’s a lack of redundancy and scalability.

That’s where cloud storage comes into play. Even though it still uses physical servers, cloud storage further digitizes the website storage process by placing data on remote servers.

Therefore, whenever I upload, store, or manage data, it all happens over the internet. You simply pay a subscription. Then the cloud provider gives you an incredibly scalable, redundant, and accessible web hosting solution powered by the cloud.

Another disadvantage I see with cloud hosting is its ongoing cost. You always have to pay for the cloud, since it’s powered by a network of servers instead of one localized machine. The cloud is more like a service than anything.

But even with all those downsides, it’s hard for me to argue against the impressive advantages of cloud storage — especially its redundancy (multiple servers backing up the main server in case something goes wrong with the first).

Primary vs. Secondary Storage

To give you a better idea of how web storage works, I’d like to talk about primary and secondary storage. To start, you should know that every server used for web hosting contains both primary and secondary storage.

The server’s RAM (or memory) is the machine’s primary storage.

That primary storage functions as the most immediately accessible option, making it ideal for quickly accessing data and running applications constantly.

Think of primary storage like your wallet. It’s where you put a little bit of pocket change to use at a moment’s notice. And it’s usually an amount that wouldn’t ruin your life if it went missing.

Secondary storage options — HDDs, cloud storage, and SSDs — operate behind the scenes as reliable, long-term storage solutions.

All secondary storage methods still allow for fairly quick access to data, but they also have the advantage of higher storage capacity and the ability to retain data without power. Therefore, it’s a safer storage option for the more important things that don’t need running all the time.

I like to compare secondary storage to checking accounts. They’re not totally locked up like a safety deposit box, but you’re confident putting more money in there, as it’s designed to hold larger amounts.

Even though primary storage works quickly, it lacks significant storage capacity and loses data during power outages.

To make this as clear as possible, think about your everyday computer. The primary storage helps launch applications and give you access to files, but once you turn off that computer, all those applications shut down. The secondary storage on your device — the actual hard drive — keeps your files and photos saved even when the computer shuts down.

The more you think about it, the more you realize how many storage types are all around us. And it’s possible you’ve come in contact with all of them, even some of the older storage types like cassettes and DVDs.

You have optical storage and flash drives, and the always reliable external hard drives for when you need to store lots of data and bring it along to class or a business meeting. Or you may even use an external hard drive to store movies for your home theater.

Optical storage, such as a DVD or CD, functions as a storage drive for distributable and consumable media. Companies can sell physical copies, and people can share them with friends. Network-attached storage (NAS) provides yet another way to store and distribute data, but it only makes the data accessible to users on a specific network. For instance, many homeowners use NAS for home movies and music.

I hope that I’ve already shown you how part of every web hosting decision you make depends on storage. Some (including myself) might even argue that storage should heavily influence your web hosting decisions.

Without the right storage, your website may suffer. With the correct storage solution, however, you shouldn’t have to worry about usability, performance, or reliability. Overall, I encourage you to always consider elements like capacity, performance, and security when selecting a web host.

Capacity

Storage capacity dictates how much data you can store on a server’s disk. When you have a larger website (hundreds of pages and media elements), you usually need more storage capacity.

It’s no different from a pantry. If you have lots of food, more people in the house, and you regularly host parties, you’ll need a larger capacity for the pantry.

Blogs have lots of posts and pages, but the content itself (text and images) needs less storage than eCommerce stores with massive product catalogs.

Whenever I choose a web hosting provider, I also always consider the scalability of that storage capacity. You’re planning for the future. You may have more kids in a few years, so why not get a bigger pantry now?

The same goes for your website. If you expect higher traffic levels or more content on your site, your host should help you scale.

Does the hosting provider offer multiple hosting plans with flexible or growing storage options? Can you upgrade your storage capacity without interrupting your site’s performance or uptime? These are all essential questions to ask yourself before signing up for a host.

Performance

This may surprise you, but the storage inside your web hosting server can impact your website’s performance. The disk contains every HTML file, image, and database for your site. And the disk needs to store (write) and retrieve (read) that content quickly, otherwise performance suffers.

A storage disk that hinders site performance is like putting the engine of a Honda Civic inside a Ferrari. You can have the most “speed-ready” exterior, but it’s only as fast as the engine inside.

A web host that advertises NVMe sounds great, but it only takes advantage of that modern storage protocol when working alongside an SSD (not an HDD).

Overall, you may find that your disk runs too slowly. And there’s no RAM or processor that can make up for that. I like to look for symptoms of bad disks, like slow loading images or contact forms.

A drive’s input/output operations speed also impacts your website’s performance, particularly for sites with large databases. A drive’s input/output gets measured in IOPS (input/output operations per second).

The higher the IOPS, the better for apps and websites (particularly eCommerce sites with regular database interactions).

Reliability

The reliability of your web storage plays a significant role in your website’s data redundancy and uptime. When I talk about redundancy, I mean that you’ll want storage with regular, automated backups. This way, if the main drive fails, you don’t lose everything.

I also find that it pays to find a host with RAID configurations. If you’re unfamiliar with RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), it’s basically another way for your host to guarantee redundancy.

It uses multiple (independent) disks to protect against data loss and hardware failures.

As for uptime, I find it difficult to analyze how my website storage affects uptime. After all, I can’t physically see if the storage hardware looks misconfigured. And it’s hard to pin any uptime issues on the storage when so many other things could cause problems as well.

Luckily, you can simply look for a host’s uptime guarantee. All reputable hosts have one. If they don’t, run away. Look for uptime guarantees with tests done by third parties. The goal is to find a host with a guarantee of 99.9% or higher.

Security

You may wonder why security is so far down on my list of things to consider. Well, it’s mainly because I figure most people will actually think about security when selecting web hosting storage. I shouldn’t have to ramble on about it as much.

Having said that, I encourage you to find a web host with data encryption and access controls.

The data encryption keeps your data “scrambled” during transit and while sitting and doing nothing. The access controls keep the bad guys out. Only authorized users can get into your database.

Let’s get a little more specific about access controls. With access controls, you can select user roles. These help you identify which people in your organization can access the stored data.

Permissions come into play as well. They allow you to set sweeping regulations on individual files. For instance, I might state that only admins can read and write one file.

Here’s how I choose the right storage for any website I build. It involves an analysis of what my website needs. I must consider my budget, along with the growth I intend to see in the future. For you, I recommend starting by identifying your type of website.

1. Identify Your Website Type

What type of website do you have? Establishing this baseline allows you to estimate your storage needs. If I had a static site, for instance, it would require less storage than a dynamic site. Yet, a site with lots of media could change the entire outlook.

In this section, I explain the unique storage needs of common website types. You can then categorize your website to establish a general idea of how much storage you need.

Static vs. Dynamic Websites

I consider a static website as one with fixed, HTML-generated content. One that requires less storage capacity than a dynamic site. You don’t usually see true static websites anymore, but it’s possible. Most sites are dynamic, those that go beyond simple HTML and use databases and scripting for interactive and changing content.

If I were to create a static site, I’d feel comfortable with a basic hosting plan — one with standard storage like an HDD or low-level SDD. Whenever I build a dynamic site, however, I need more power from the storage source.

For dynamic websites, I opt for high-performance SDDs. As a result, the dynamic site ends up with improved performance and more efficient data handling.

eCommerce

Are you running an eCommerce website? My definition of that is a dynamic or static website with product pages and payment processing options. Most eCommerce stores are dynamic, since they require additional code for shopping carts.

Even if you’re on a budget for your online store, I plead with you to go with high-performance storage. Virtually every eCommerce store demands it. I recommend an SSD for the smoothest user experience and fastest page loading.

If you skip out on the right storage, you’ll end up losing paying customers when your site takes too long to load.

Ideally, you opt for a web host with RAID storage and high IOPS rates (both of which I explained earlier in this article). Online stores often require consistent access to a database.

RAID helps with the reliability of database integrations, while the stronger IOPS rate improves the efficiency of database transactions.

Finally, all eCommerce store owners should check web hosts for SLAs (Service Level Agreements) with impressive uptime guarantees. All reputable hosts should have an SLA. Again, the goal is to minimize downtime and maintain a consistent user experience.

Content-Heavy Sites

Websites with large media collections — think video libraries, sites with high-resolution images, and streaming services — must have high-capacity SSDs to handle the storage and accessibility of large files such as audio, images, and video.

The read/write speeds on an HDD may struggle when processing large images and videos, so it’s crucial for you to find a web host that can deliver those assets quickly. I also recommend considering a hybrid or cloud storage for media-rich websites.

Another element I always add to a media-rich site is called a CDN, or Content Delivery Network. When you add a CDN to your website, it distributes media through a global network of servers.

So, your media gets delivered closer to your users, resulting in faster page loads. Here’s a tip: many hosting companies have CDN integrations — so just ask them.

2. Determine Your Budget

Here’s the age-old dilemma for website storage: how do I balance performance and cost? After evaluating your website’s specific needs, the decision becomes easier. Yet, you’re still limited to the amount of money available.

To start, you must establish a concrete budget. Understand that the success of your website weighs heavily on its performance, so avoid discounting the importance of web storage when calculating your budget.

With your budget in mind, look at your storage options. HDDs are the cheapest but could hinder performance. SSDs improve performance but cost more. If you’re struggling to decide, consider a hybrid solution.

I also like cloud storage as a cost-effective storage solution for those unwilling to sacrifice performance.

3. Consider Future Growth

Whenever I build a website, I want to ensure it’s ready for the future. My website can’t grow with expandable storage. Therefore, I encourage you all to find a host with the ability to upgrade your website’s server storage. Usually, that just means finding a provider with multiple hosting plans, or at least enough to carry you well into the future.

I also want you to look into cloud storage to improve your scalability potential. With cloud storage, your website can scale due to the on-demand storage increase from the cloud. I like this for seasonal businesses, along with others with surges throughout the year.

When I talk about web hosting storage solutions, I’ll outline all web hosting types and the storage that comes with each. For example, I’ll discuss shared hosting as a popular web hosting storage type and explain the storage potential that comes along with that hosting solution.

Shared Hosting

For most small websites, you’ll go with a shared hosting setup. Shared hosting means you sign up to put your website on a server that is shared with many other websites. That means all the users also share the storage resources from that one server.

I find that the sharing of storage isn’t a problem for small websites. But I would expect performance issues with resource-heavy websites.

Keep in mind that shared hosting plans dictate how much of the shared server’s storage you get to use for your website. You can still scale your site by upgrading, but you could potentially reach a host’s highest shared plan, which would require you to upgrade your server type.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

Similar to shared hosting, a VPS environment also splits resources amongst multiple users on the main server. However, each user gets a dedicated virtual environment for more control, independent resource usage, and improved performance.

A VPS allows users to manage storage through a dedicated control panel. This makes for an intuitive configuration process and easy scaling. Outside of very small, hobbyist blogs and websites, I recommend that most business websites start with a VPS for the best storage performance.

Dedicated Servers

A dedicated server gives the website owner complete control over all server resources. That’s because only one website goes on the server — your website. Although managing a dedicated server is difficult, many organizations opt for one because of the unlimited customization potential.

Scaling is unrestricted with a dedicated server, too. If you need more storage, simply add some. There’s no need to stick to preset plans, like with shared or VPS hosting. I can’t really recommend dedicated hosting to anyone unless they have an IT team to manage the server.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting manages storage and all of its resources across a network of interconnected servers. With this type of setup, I find you get the most scalable, flexible hosting solution for storage.

In my experience, cloud hosting is your best option for storage. It comes with several advantages, all thanks to the network of servers. Storage is scalable, redundant, and flexible on a cloud network. You may opt for cloud hosting when you need all three and your budget allows for it.

In this section, I’d like to get a little more advanced. Web hosting storage is pretty straightforward, but you may need to know some advanced storage technologies when fielding web hosting providers. Many hosts offer these features to boost the performance and scalability of disk storage. It’s best you know what they all mean.

NVMe Storage

Non-volatile memory express, or NVMe, is a storage technology used in tandem with SSDs to produce high-speed transfers with help from hardware items called PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) buses. Here’s my take: If your host offers NVMe storage at an affordable rate, it’s wise to upgrade since it also leads to lower latency.

Use Cases:

• Real-time data (especially big data analytics)
• Database management and websites with databases
• Computing with high-performance requirements

Overall, a small website without much database usage may not benefit from NVMe storage. But an eCommerce site or data-heavy application sure would.

Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

A content delivery network (CDN) works alongside your website storage to distribute assets such as images and other content faster and more efficiently. CDNs use global server networks to deliver content to the user from a closer server, thus speeding up delivery.

Benefits:

• Often improved security for content
• Less load on the server
• Faster delivery of data and content

A CDN improves your user experience. Your users will thank you. You as the website owner will even notice the effects of a CDN, as it lightens the load on your server and speeds up the frontend and backend. Overall, I tend to see a far more streamlined content delivery process with CDNs.

Object Storage

Object storage takes a less traditional approach to data storage. Instead of looking at data as numbers, it manages all data as objects. That small change offers stronger organization (with lots of metadata) and improved scalability.

Use Cases:

• Backups and disaster recovery situations
• Archives for large-scale data operations
• Applications that primarily reside on the cloud

From my experience, object storage excels with unstructured data. It offers control over diverse datasets and delivers one of the most efficient, scalable ways to store digital assets. I like it for backups and archives but also cloud applications.

I recommend you use monitoring tools to manage and optimize storage. The same goes for caching tools. In this section, I explain the various ways to take full advantage of your website storage.

Monitoring Tools

To keep an eye on your website’s storage — its capacity, performance, and optimization — I recommend you invest in monitoring tools.

Popular storage monitoring tools include:

• Prometheus
• Zabbix
• Nagios

These tools help with resource allocation and detecting issues that arise. I prefer Nagios and Prometheus — since they’re open source — but Zabbix works well for enterprise applications.

Optimization Techniques

I’ve discovered a wide range of storage optimization techniques over the years. My favorite techniques include data deduplication, tiering, and compression. Data deduplication gets rid of duplicate data. Tiering shifts data around to make storage more efficient. Compression — perhaps the easiest optimization technique for the average person to implement — makes files smaller.

Backup Strategies

Every website owner — including you — should implement a robust backup strategy. I encourage you to activate regular backups, consider incremental backups, and use offsite storage. I also recommend testing the backup and restoral processes.

Importance of Backups

Why are backups so crucial for website storage? I find that they give you peace of mind if your site goes down. Backups also improve business continuity.

Should your site fail, you can get it back up and running without much downtime. Finally, backups are helpful in finding and recovering lost or corrupted data. And believe me, there’s nothing nicer than quickly locating lost data.

Backup Solutions

To get more specific about data storage backups, you may have to choose between off-site and on-site backups. My solution is to implement both for redundancy. I like how on-site backups offer quick access and more control (they’re local).

Off-site backups, on the other hand, protect you from more drastic disasters such as storms or criminal threats. As always, I encourage you to turn on automated backups for both your off-site and on-site backups.

I often forget about storage. You might, too. It’s only human. Storage just sits there in the background. It’s like the umpire in a baseball game — you’ll only notice him when he does something terribly wrong. You may forget about it, but storage is the workhorse of your website’s data and content delivery operation. And you must think about it when choosing a web host.

You want fast and efficient data storage and retrieval. Otherwise you’ll end up with a poor user experience and potential data loss.

I encourage you to examine your current data storage and assess whether you can save money or upgrade to a higher-performance solution. Then, pick a storage solution that makes sense, and use my best practices to monitor and maintain it so it’s optimized properly.