Can someone explain if or why object storage is more scaleable than FS?

Question

Can’t you just build a FS capable of storing a huge number of files?

Answer 1

Object storage is a system that places your stored data on a flat plane called a “storage pool”, rather than a hierarchy with directories and sub-directories that cannot be put inside one another. FS works when you don’t have lots of files and know exactly where they are stored, since there is no database. Sure, you can build a FS system that can store a large number of files, but it would not be a very inefficient system.

I actually did a blog post about this on our company’s website, as we get lots of clients asking about this:

Object storage is known for its compatibility with cloud computing, and that’s because of its unlimited scalability. Thanks to its flat structure, object storage doesn’t have the same limitations as file or block storage. Hierarchical systems often experience complications when it comes to scaling out. Those difficulties are avoided in an object storage environment because the system scales out by adding nodes. Object storage can easily scale data to petabytes without restrictions.

Though it has these advantages in scalability, it doesn’t mean object storage systems can’t also benefit static data. In fact, object-based storage is optimal for that type of data. For this reason, object storage has a sort of niche in the market, best serving static yet scalable archival storage, according to ComputerWeekly.com. For example, object storage could be ideal for digital archives. This storage system allows faster”