Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer
Section titled “Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer”Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer is recommended for accessing and managing your Azure Storage account. It provides a convenient way to browse containers and inspect offloaded content.
The tool also helps you understand how blobs are stored and what happens behind the scenes during offload and restore operations.
Storage Tier Costs
Section titled “Storage Tier Costs”Azure Blob Storage offers different access tiers. The examples below illustrate how the selected tier affects the annual storage cost for 1 TB, calculated as 1,000 GB.
All prices are illustrative examples in USD. Actual costs depend on your Azure configuration, region, redundancy and usage. Savings compare storage charges only with the SharePoint Online example below.
The image shows an example of monthly Azure storage prices per GB. Check current Microsoft Azure pricing before estimating your costs.
| Storage tier | Example annual cost for 1 TB | Storage savings* |
|---|---|---|
| Hot | 12 × $0.018 × 1,000 = $216 | 91% |
| Cool | 12 × $0.01 × 1,000 = $120 | 95% |
| Cold | 12 × $0.0036 × 1,000 ≈ $43 | 98% |
| Archive | 12 × $0.00099 × 1,000 ≈ $12 | 99% |
| SharePoint Online | 12 × $0.20 × 1,000 = $2,400 | Reference |
*Savings are rounded and compare the illustrative storage charges only. They exclude SMART Offload licensing, implementation and additional Azure usage charges. The SharePoint Online example assumes a storage charge of $0.20 per GB per month.
Cold Tier — Recommended for Rarely Accessed Files
Section titled “Cold Tier — Recommended for Rarely Accessed Files”For the SMART Offload use case described here, Cold is the recommended tier for rarely accessed files. It combines low storage charges with online availability, allowing files to be retrieved without the separate rehydration step required by Archive.
Archive Tier — Rehydration Required Before Restore
Section titled “Archive Tier — Rehydration Required Before Restore”Archive offers the lowest storage charge in this example, but archived blob content is offline and cannot be read directly.
Before SMART Offload can restore a file, the blob must first be rehydrated to an online tier. This requires an additional administrative step, using Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer or another supported Azure tool, and adds waiting time and potential charges.
Additional Azure Costs
Section titled “Additional Azure Costs”Additional Azure charges may apply for data retrieval, transactions, data transfer, monitoring and early deletion. These costs depend on your configuration and usage, particularly the volume of data restored and how long it remains in the selected tier.
Include these charges when estimating the total cost. Review Microsoft Azure pricing.
Useful Videos
Section titled “Useful Videos”YouTube: How to Configure Azure Storage Lifecycle Management
See also