How does cloud memory work for a chat like WhatsApp?

[dextercioby]

Just curious: let's say we have 30 billion messages in WhatsApp every day. Some of them have pictures or videos in them. Conversations are not placed on auto-delete. So we are talking about possibly TB of new "cloud storage space" needed every day. How does it work, really? Is there a hard deletion done on the WhatsApp server farm?

The same question applies to TikTok or X or Facebook, where the space needed by new videos and pictures could also add up significantly.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The same question applies to TikTok or X or Facebook, where the space needed by new videos and pictures could also add up significantly.

First they used tiered space depending on retrieval demand. Aka, old stuff is sent to slower drive etc. Second, they build massive headroom, not in single drives, but racks of drives. No one is running to the rack to add a new hard drive because they are close to the limit.

The largest hard drive I can find commercially is 128TB. I'm sure however, that top tech companies have custom solutions that go beyond that.

 

[dextercioby]

Thanks, Greg. So it's technically all retrievable. So if I delete a conversation on my phone from 5 years ago, will it delete the backup on the drive at W-App?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Thanks, Greg. So it's technically all retrievable. So if I delete a conversation on my phone from 5 years ago, will it delete the backup on the drive at W-App?

That depends on the software, company and terms of service. Practically speaking, most companies like that will store everything forever. How easy it is for a user to retrieve is another story.

 

[Baluncore]

So we are talking about possibly TB of new "cloud storage space" needed every day. How does it work, really?

The host will be using the best available data compression for each tier of the storage.

 

[Dale]

First they used tiered space depending on retrieval demand. Aka, old stuff is sent to slower drive etc.

I do notice that as you scroll back the display can get slower. That must be related.

 

[dextercioby]

Thanks for your answers.