Microsoft has recently updated its Azure Storage architecture to increase the size of the maximum allowable block size. The latest editions of MSP360 Backup and MSP360 Explorer for Windows have in turn timely gained support for this novelty.
Block size increase
The maximum allowable block size has been increased from 4 MB to 100 MB while maintaining support for up to 50,000 blocks committed to a single Blob. That increases the maximum file size from 195 GB to 4.77 TB. Range GETs continue to be supported on larger Block Blobs allowing high-speed parallel downloads of the entire Blob, or just portions of the Blob. You can immediately begin taking advantage of this improvement in any existing Blob Storage or General Purpose Storage Account across all Azure regions.
This size increase only applies to Block Blobs, and the maximum size of Append Blobs (195 GB) and Page Blobs (1 TB) remains unchanged. While the pricing policy has not altered, bear in mind that larger blocks result in fewer requests, and, by extension, reduced bills.
MSP360 Backup & Explorer
As for our products, MSP360 Backup now automatically calculates the suitable block size when executing plans. Conversely, MSP360 Explorer provides greater flexibility and enables you to manually specify the requisite chunk (block) size.
Feel free to read the original Microsoft blog post that reflects minor details concerning the block sizes and offers further reading for pros.
