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Microsoft Azure File Storage pros and cons

Vendor: Microsoft
4.1 out of 5
Badge Leader

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Microsoft Azure File Storage offers seamless integration with other products and Azure services, making implementations straightforward.
It provides excellent scalability, accommodating any requirement and ensuring high availability.
The service offers valuable life cycle functionality, allowing files to be efficiently transferred between storage options such as hot, cold, and archive storage to optimize costs.
Microsoft Azure File Storage is appreciated for its speed, security, and reliability, providing both geo-redundancy and backup data loss prevention.
The integration capabilities across different platforms, including compatibility with Power BI for data visualization, enhance its utility for comprehensive analytics and real-time insights.

CONS

Microsoft Azure File Storage has complex initial setup procedures, making it challenging for users without prior experience.
The pricing of Microsoft Azure File Storage lacks transparency, and improvements could be made to inform users of potential costs more clearly.
Security features in Microsoft Azure File Storage could be modernized, including measures to address potential threats like virus attacks.
Integration with other platforms is limited within Microsoft Azure File Storage, presenting challenges in connecting with existing systems.
The support response time for Microsoft Azure File Storage is often high, contributing to delays in addressing user issues.
 

Microsoft Azure File Storage Pros review quotes

it_user1274955 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 26, 2020
General user familiarity with Office 365 products make adopting this solution easy to adopt in production.
Srikanth Madduri - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 6, 2022
The biggest advantage of Azure File Storage vis-à-vis other public cloud storage providers, and why we recommend Azure first and foremost, is that many of our customers have partnerships with Microsoft and so they have access to better cloud economics. Compared to AWS, we have found that (from a customer perspective) Azure is much more competitive.
reviewer1346826 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2022
We have not explored the desktop performance analysis of the file storage, but the user interface, API, and the response that we receive over the file storage are very good. We have a lot of customers that connect to the client-side, click the images, and upload them. The beauty of the solution is that we can mount the file storage into a critical server as well as an external drive. The speed that we receive with the images is pretty good.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure File Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.
SA
Jul 27, 2021
The solution can scale to fit any requirement.
Tony Kerr - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 7, 2025
The profile management option is another valuable feature that allows us to manage the profiles and secure them.
Karthik-A - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 6, 2025
Scalability in Microsoft Azure File Storage is impressive; we recently handled a huge transaction during an iPhone launch without any problems.
SF
Nov 11, 2021
It was quick to synchronize back from Azure to the on-premise server.
PB
Feb 1, 2023
I like that Microsoft Azure File Storage works fine and is quick to deploy. It's also easy to connect to it, particularly when connecting it with my on-premise file servers.
Arti Jaiswal - PeerSpot reviewer
May 8, 2023
The most significant aspect of Microsoft Azure File Storage is its life cycle functionality, which enables us to transfer files to various storage options, such as hot storage, full storage, and archive. This feature is crucial since we can apply a life cycle method to files that have not been in use for an extended period, and then move them to a cheaper cold storage option to save costs. Since the newest files are stored in the hot storage, it met our specific requirements. Consequently, older files can be transferred to archive and cold storage.
MV
Dec 23, 2020
The initial setup is fairly easy.
 

Microsoft Azure File Storage Cons review quotes

it_user1274955 - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 26, 2020
The initial setup is complex. Unless you have done it a few times it, it is going to be hard.
Srikanth Madduri - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 6, 2022
One thing that Azure File Storage could help us with is some kind of impact assessment. When we talk to some of our larger customers who have between 500 and 1,000 applications, we normally do an assessment of all these applications and then tell them which ones are ready to be lifted and shifted, and which ones need to re-architected. It would really help if Azure File Storage could come up with a better way to give estimations of the total investment required, including all costs incurred during the migration.
reviewer1346826 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2022
In our use cases, we see the weakness in mobile internet connectivity.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure File Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.
SA
Jul 27, 2021
The solution should support all the legacy storage systems.
Tony Kerr - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 7, 2025
Importing and exporting data needs to have a bit more documentation.
Karthik-A - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 6, 2025
The availability of file storage information requires significant research and learning. The information is not readily available on the internet, so we have to double-check and understand everything.
SF
Nov 11, 2021
The storage account key could be a security issue.
PB
Feb 1, 2023
Microsoft Azure File Storage needs more integrations. In the future, I also want to see GRC added to the portal. If you enroll or sign up for Azure services, your country may not have GRC available in the portal, so you may have to choose a strange country, for example, Kenya, to activate credit.
Arti Jaiswal - PeerSpot reviewer
May 8, 2023
I have used the file storage explorer in multiple systems, and it seems a bit cumbersome and not very efficient, particularly with authentication. It can be tricky to set it up.
MV
Dec 23, 2020
Microsoft Azure File Storage is not that scalable. Once you reach the boundaries, you need to migrate to another solution.