We know we need to clean up and remove some outdated data, but we still need to host roughly 60 TB of file data in Azure. The shares need to stay close to Azure Virtual Desktop, and our synchronization software generates enough transactions that Azure Files Standard is throttling us. For anyone using Azure Premium Files at this scale, what does your typical monthly bill look like? Does splitting the data across multiple file shares significantly affect the price? I'm estimating around $10,000 per month from the pricing calculator, but I'd like to hear what others are actually paying and whether there are better options for data that can be archived or moved to cool storage.
3 Answers
Your estimate could be in the right general range, especially if you need about 60 TB of premium capacity plus heavy transaction activity, backups, and redundancy. Before committing, separate the data into active, infrequently accessed, and archival categories. Keeping everything on premium storage is expensive if a large portion can be deleted or moved to a lower-cost tier.
The Azure pricing calculator is the best starting point because the total depends on the region, provisioned capacity, transaction volume, redundancy, and snapshot or backup usage. With Premium Files, you generally pay for provisioned storage rather than simply the amount of data currently stored, so spreading 60 TB across several shares usually won’t reduce the base capacity cost. It can affect performance and quota management, though, so model the exact number and size of shares you need.
There are two separate design questions here: performance and retention. Premium Azure Files may solve the throttling problem for active shares, but it probably isn’t the right place for an entire historical dataset. Consider keeping the working set on Premium Files and using lifecycle policies or another archive-oriented option for older data. Also compare archive retrieval charges and access limitations before moving data, since the cheapest storage tier can become expensive if users regularly need to restore files.
It’s worth comparing Azure archive storage with Microsoft 365 archive features based on how often the data must be accessed and whether it needs to remain available as a normal file share. The right choice depends as much on access patterns and application compatibility as on the raw storage price.
That’s the issue we’re running into. We know some of it can be deleted or moved to cold storage, but the active portion needs to remain close to Azure Virtual Desktop, and our sync tool is already hitting throttling on Standard Files.