Cost for bulk downloading files in Azure Data Lake through Azure Storage Explorer

Question

Hi Community,

Recently I need to download a large amount of files from storage account to local computer, I planned to use Azure Storage Explorer to perform this task.

Here are my question:

1. The storage account has hierarchical namespace enabled and it is classify as "ADLS Gen2" in Azure Storage Explorer. Should I refer to the Azure Blob Storage pricing or Azure Data Lake Storage pricing?
2. When using the Azure Storage Explorer to download files (e.g. 1000 files & 10MB each), what cost will it generate? And do read and interactive read operation involves?

Assume the storage is in hot tier and the download take place within the same.

Could someone please clarify for me? Thanks in advanced.

Answer 1

Hello Brian,

I understand that you're planning to download a large amount of data from an ADLS Gen2 storage account to your local computer using Azure Storage Explorer.

Answer for your first question:

ADLS Gen2 is constructed on the foundation of Azure Blob Storage. It utilizes the existing Blob Storage framework while incorporating the functionality of a hierarchical namespace. Consequently, it is advisable to primarily consult the pricing information for Azure Blob Storage.

• You will incur charges based on the volume of data you store, which is categorized according to the pricing tiers of Blob Storage (Hot, Cool, Archive). Activities such as reading, writing, and listing files are billed as transactions, and these expenses correspond to the pricing structure for Blob Storage transactions.
• Transferring data out of the Azure region incurs egress charges, which are also based on Blob Storage principles.

I request you to kindly refer to the Azure Blob Storage pricing pages before performing the above action: https://www.cloudzero.com/blog/azure-blob-storage-pricing/#:~:text=Blob%20Storage%20tier&For%20example%2C%20Hot%20storage%20is,costs%20only%20%240.01%20per%20GB.&text=Data%20transfer%20costs,(egress)%20incurs%20additional%20charges.

Answer for your Second question:

As the download occurs within the same Azure region, the costs associated with data egress will be minimal or non-existent. Typically, data transfers within the same Azure region do not incur charges. Every file download requires read operations, and you will incur charges for these transactions.

For example: Let's say the cost is $0.00036 per 10,000 read operations (this is an example, check your region!). If we assume 2000 read operations (to account for overhead) then the cost would be calculated as:

• (2000 reads / 10000 reads) * $0.00036 = $0.000072. Therefore, the cost will be very small.

Assume the storage is in hot tier and the download take place within the same.?

Please be informed that there are no early deletion fees or retrieval fees associated with the data itself. The Hot tier is designed for frequently accessed data. To get the exact cost, you need to check the Azure Blob Storage pricing page for your specific Azure region: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/storage/blobs/?msockid=33b7978ac0986503106782f0c1ca64a2

Hope the above answer helps! Please let us know do you have any further queries.

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