S3 and EBS both store data, but they’re fundamentally different types of storage, and mixing them up costs easy exam points.
Object vs block
S3 is object storage — files reached over the internet by API, virtually unlimited, great for backups, static assets, and data lakes. EBS is block storage — a virtual disk attached to one EC2 instance, for boot volumes and databases. If it needs to behave like a hard drive on a server, EBS; if it’s internet-accessible file/object storage, S3.
Test yourself
A database running on an EC2 instance needs low-latency block storage that behaves like an attached disk. Which service?
- Amazon S3
- Amazon EBS
- Amazon CloudFront
- Amazon SQS
👉 Click to reveal the answer & explanation
Correct answer: B. EBS provides block storage that attaches to an EC2 instance like a disk — right for a database’s data volume. S3 (A) is object storage accessed by API, not a mountable disk; CloudFront (C) is a CDN; SQS (D) is a queue.
Related topics
Amazon S3 · EBS vs EFS vs S3 · Amazon EC2
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