What is the difference between CloudBlob subclasses? [duplicate]

Question

Looks like CloudBlob has 3 subclasses you can use to get data in and out of Azure Storage. Here's the (very sparse) documentation:

• Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.Blob.CloudBlockBlob

  • Represents a blob that is uploaded as a set of blocks.

• Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.Blob.CloudAppendBlob:

  • Represents an append blob, a type of blob where blocks of data are always committed to the end of the blob.

• Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.Blob.CloudPageBlob

  • Represents a Microsoft Azure page blob.

I've been using CloudBlockBlob to upload/download pdfs and images, and everything seems to be working. I can't seem to find a page that explains what these classes do.

Under what circumstances should I use CloudAppendBlob and CloudPageBlob?

Answer 1

Found the page I was looking for: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/storage-blobs-introduction

• CloudBlockBlob:

  • Block blobs are ideal for storing text or binary files, such as documents and media files.

• CloudAppendBlob:

  • Append blobs are similar to block blobs in that they are made up of blocks, but they are optimized for append operations, so they are useful for logging scenarios.

• CloudPageBlob:

  • Page blobs can be up to 1 TB in size, and are more efficient for frequent read/write operations. Azure Virtual Machines use page blobs as OS and data disks.