Azure physical hard drive import.

Just discovered a new service offered by Windows Azure.

The Windows Azure Import/Export Service.

What is it?

It allows you to import your data from a hard drive you have with you to Blob Storage, AND export your data from Blob Storage to a hard drive that they Fedex to you! How cool is that!

This is such an awesome feature, when you have REALLY REALLY large amounts of data that you want to import or export, but don’t have the time to wait or cost for bandwidth. Processing Big Data in Azure is such a great use of the service. If you don’t want to be paying for really big processing power when you don’t need it, but need all that power when it’s ready for you. For instance when the financial markets are closed, you can process large amount of data over night, ready to be analysed the next day.

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/services/storage/import-export-service-for-blob-storage/