What Are the Differences Between Hot Data Storage and Cold Data Storage?

The biggest difference between hot data storage and cold data storage lies in the storage media.

  • Hot data is frequently queried or updated and has high requirements on access response time. It is stored on DN data disks.

  • Cold data is not updated and is occasionally queried, and does not have high requirements on access response time. It is stored in OBS.

Different storage media determine the cost, performance, and application scenarios of the two storage mode, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Differences between hot and cold data storage

Storage

Read and Write

Cost

Capacity

Application Scenario

Hot storage

Fast

High

Fixed and restricted

This mode is applicable to scenarios where the data volume is limited and needs to be frequently read and updated.

Cold storage

Slow

Low

Large and unlimited

This mode is applicable to scenarios such as data archiving. It features low cost and large capacity.