One of the most important factors to consider when using cloud storage is the cost of transport. Most cloud storage providers charge you not only for data storage, but also for transporting the data (upload/download) as well. It is these charges which often form the vast majority of cloud storage cost.

To minimize these costs, it is vital to remember the three techniques of data reduction; compression, incrementalization, and deduplication. Let's take a brief look at all three of these valuable techniques.

Compression is most certainly not new, but it is coming back 'into vogue' as a method of data reduction. Most filesystems have had compression built-in for years, but the CPU horsepower required was daunting, and performance suffered. Today, however, the CPUs are very powerful and it is advisable to use compression wherever possible. Even a 2:1 reduction in data provides significant savings, and most compression algorithms in use should be able to achieve that ratio.

...

Read the rest of the article on Cloud Lab.  By peglarr