What is the primary difference between Amazon EBS and Amazon S3?

The primary difference between Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) lies in their storage types and use cases. EBS is specifically designed as a block storage solution that is tied to Amazon EC2 instances. It provides low-latency storage that allows applications running on EC2 to access data efficiently, making it suitable for scenarios where high performance and quick data access are required, such as databases and file systems.

On the other hand, S3 is an object storage service that stores data as objects within buckets. It is designed to handle various types of data, including large amounts of unstructured data, such as media files, backups, and data for big data analytics. S3 is scalable and can store an unlimited amount of data, allowing for easy retrieval and management, which differs from the more structured approach of EBS.

Understanding this distinction is vital for deploying applications effectively in the cloud, as the selection of storage type can significantly impact performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.