Storage Types | Notion

RDS offers three main storage types to optimize cost and performance for different workloads.

1. General Purpose (SSD)

Key Features:
- Baseline Performance: Offers consistent IOPS, suitable for most workloads.
- Burst Capability: Can burst up to 3,000 IOPS for periods of high demand.
- Cost: Economical compared to other storage options.
Use Cases:
- Development or testing environments.
- Small to medium-sized applications with moderate performance needs.
Example: A small e-commerce website requiring a balance of performance and cost.

Key Features:
- High Performance: Designed for applications requiring consistent and high IOPS.
- Customizable IOPS: Supports up to 256,000 IOPS (based on instance type).
- Cost: Higher than General Purpose SSD due to premium performance.
Use Cases:
- OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) systems.
- High-frequency trading applications.
Example: A financial services platform requiring low latency and high throughput for real-time transaction processing.

Key Features:
- Low Cost: Budget-friendly but with lower performance compared to SSDs.
- Sequential Workloads: Optimized for workloads requiring sequential data access.
- Deprecation Note: Not available for some new instance types and regions.
Use Cases:
- Archival or infrequently accessed data.
- Workloads with low IOPS requirements.
Example: Historical data storage for an analytics application with low access frequency.

Storage Type	Performance	Key Features	Best For	Cost
General Purpose SSD	Baseline: 3,000 IOPS, Scalable: 16,000	Cost-effective, adjustable IOPS & throughput	Development, low-medium OLTP workloads	Low, moderate latency
Provisioned IOPS SSD	Up to 64,000 IOPS	High performance, low latency, durable	Critical applications like ERP, analytics	High, low latency
Magnetic (HDD)	Low, no IOPS guarantee	Legacy, lowest cost, infrequent access	Archival or rarely accessed data	Lowest, high latency