Azure allows you to drag and drop files to store as blobs or upload them using the traditional file navigation method.

The word "blob" doesn't exactly conjure up the most appealing images in your mind. But it's the word Microsoft chose for a specific type of large-scale storage in its Azure platform. Blob storage is scalable and comes at a low cost, in addition to being accessible via the free version of Microsoft Azure. Welcome to blob storage - Azure is ready to help you store large volumes of data.

Blob stands for "binary large object," which gives an unsubtle hint about the uses for blob storage. Azure serves as the cloud platform through which you can store massive amounts of data you may not have storage space for elsewhere.

With blob storage, you can share videos, images, and documents via a browser. It's also great as a data backup tool and it's useful for data analysis when you need to parse through massive volumes of data in a single container. However, you can't jump straight into storing "blobs" in Azure. You have to create storage accounts and containers first.

You need to build a storage account before you can take advantage of blob storage. Azure makes that fairly straightforward with a creation wizard you can follow with these steps.

Step 1: Hit the "Menu" icon at the top-left of the screen (it's the three horizontal lines) and select "Storage accounts" from the navigation bar.

Step 2: Choose the "+ Create" option.

Step 3: Complete all of the fields in the following screen. Most are auto-completed, though you will need to enter details for your Resource Group and Storage Account Name. Also, make sure to select "Azure Blob Storage of Azure Data Lake Storage Gen 2" from the Primary Service dropdown.

Step 4: Click "Review + Create" and wait for Azure to complete the validation process. Upon completion of this process, select the "Create" button and you'll have your blob-ready storage account. It will likely take a few minutes for Azure to deploy the account once it's created.

With your storage account created, you're ready to use some blob storage features. First, you have to create a container in which to store your blob files.

Step 1: Hit the "Menu" icon at the top-left of the screen and select the "Storage accounts" option from the navigation bar.

Step 2: Click on your newly created storage account. If you already have several storage accounts, choose the one in which you want to create your container from the list.

Step 3: Navigate to and click the "Data storage" option in the left-hand menu and select "Containers."

Voila - you have your new container and you're ready to start using blob storage.

With your container ready, you can now upload block blob data to your Azure storage account. Think of block blobs as assemblages of data you pull together to make a single blob. They're a great choice for storing text and binary data, meaning you can use this type of blob storage for most images, videos, and text files. Here's how to upload a block blob in Azure.

Step 1: Navigate back to your storage account, select it, and choose the "Containers" option in the "Data storage" dropdown again.

Step 2: Select your container and hit the "Upload" button at the top-left of the screen.

Step 3: Either drag and drop a file into the provided space or click the "Browse for files" option to find the file you wish to upload via your device's file system.

Step 4: Clicking the "Advanced" drop-down tab reveals several options for tweaking your blob file. Most can stay as the default options. However, you can choose to upload the blob into a new or existing virtual folder by entering the name in the "Upload to folder" field.

Step 5: Hit the "Upload" button to upload your blob to your Azure storage account.

You can upload as many blobs to your container as you like, up to the container's 500TB storage limit. Azure also provides the option to share and delete uploaded blobs.