A blob cannot be read directly from the Archive tier. To read a blob in the Archive tier, a user must first change the tier to Hot or Cool. For example, to retrieve and read a single 1,000-GB archived blob that has been in the Archive tier for 90 days, the following charges would apply:
Data retrieval (per GB) from the Archive tier: $0.022/GB-month x 1,000 GB = $22
Rehydrate operation (SetBlobTier Archive to Hot): $5.50/10k = $0.0006
Early deletion charge: (180 – 90 days)/30 days x $0.002/GB-month x 1,000 = $5.40
Read blob operation from Hot = $0.0044/10k = $0.0001
Total = $22 + $0.0006 + $5.40 + $0.0001 = $28
- In addition to the per-GB, per-month charge, any blob that is moved to the Archive tier is subject to an Archive early deletion period of 180 days. Additionally, for general-purpose v2 storage accounts, any blob that is moved to the Cool tier is subject to a Cool tier early deletion period of 30 days. This charge is prorated. For example, if a blob is moved to the Archive tier and then deleted or moved to the Hot tier after 45 days, the customer is charged an early deletion fee for 135 (180 minus 45) days of storage in the Archive tier.
- When a blob is moved from one access tier to another, its last modification time doesn’t change. If you manually rehydrate an archived blob to hot tier, it would be moved back to archive tier by the lifecycle management engine. Disable the rule that affects this blob temporarily to prevent it from being archived again. Re-enable the rule when the blob can be safely moved back to archive tier. You may also copy the blob to another location if it needs to stay in hot or cool tier permanently.
Azure Archive Operations and pricing
There will be some charges associated after 180 days for the storage account.
- Storage capacity is billed in units of the average daily amount of data stored, in gigabytes (GB), over a monthly period. For example, if you consistently used 10 GB of storage for the first half of the month, and none for the second half of the month, you would be billed for your average usage of 5 GB of storage. However, using the Cool (GPv2 accounts only) or Archive tier for less than 30 and 180 days respectively will incur an additional charge.
For more information refer to this article: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/storage-blob-storage-tiers#pricing-and-billing
For more information on pricing, please see this link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/storage/blobs/.
Prices may vary subject to changes by Azure Services.