Microsoft Azure has announced new capabilities for Azure Data Box, its offline data transfer solution. These new capabilities will help accelerate offline data migration to Azure.
One significant update is the general availability of self-encrypted drives for the Azure Data Box Disk SKU. These drives offer hardware encryption at the device level, eliminating the need for additional software. This makes them ideal for organizations that need to transfer sensitive data offline.
Another improvement is the support for data ingestion to multiple blob access tiers in a single order. This means you can now transfer data to different access tiers, such as the cold tier, without having to first move the data to the hot tier and then use lifecycle management to move it to the cold tier.
Additionally, Azure Data Box now offers a preview of cross-region data transfers. This feature allows you to seamlessly transfer data from a source country or region to select Azure destinations in a different country or region.
Finally, Azure Data Box now supports online catch-up copies using Azure Storage Mover integration. This means you can now use Azure Storage Mover to copy any changes made to your data while the Azure Data Box is in transit.
Overall, these new capabilities for Azure Data Box are valuable enhancements that make it easier and faster to transfer data offline to Azure.
As a former IT engineer, I find these updates particularly interesting. I can see them being particularly useful for organizations that need to transfer large amounts of data offline, such as those in the healthcare and financial services industries.
For example, a hospital using Azure Data Box to transfer patient records to Azure could now use the self-encrypted drives to ensure that this data remains secure during transit. Similarly, a financial services company using Azure Data Box to transfer financial data to Azure could now use the multiple access tier support to save on storage costs by storing less critical data in a cheaper access tier.
