Understanding Hot Versus Cold Storage

When you store data in the cloud, the data is normally immediately available to users. Administrators refer to such storage as hot storage. There may be times, however, when you need to store data, possibly as a backup or for compliance purposes, for which the data does not need to be immediately available. Administrators refer to such storage as cold storage. Should a user need data in cold storage, it may need to be spun up or loaded into a hot-storage solution. Cold storage is normally less expensive than hot and is well suited for data for which a slight delay in access is acceptable.