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What is the difference between block storage and file storage?

April 26, 2017block file storage

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What is the difference between block storage and file storage?

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File storage is what the user’s application asks the operating system to do. For example, a text editor has a file of arbitrary length, and it gives it to the operating system to store. Block storage is what is used at levels closer to the hardware. For example, disk drives can only read and write in 512-byte blocks. (Tape drives can use fixed or variable length blocks.) It is the job of the file system to change file-oriented requests into block-level commands. Common file storage protocols include NFS and CIFS. Common block storage protocols include SCSI, Fibre Channel, and iSCSI.