Downgrading Premium Storage to Standard Without Migration

Niccolo 0

Hi,

In our Azure subscription, we have a Premium Storage Account that is significantly increasing our costs. We've recently determined that we don't need this tier and have already moved our workloads to another storage service. Now, we'd like to downgrade the storage from Premium to Standard without requiring a migration, as migration could introduce additional costs.

Is it possible to directly change the storage tier from Premium to Standard without data migration? If not, what alternative cost-effective options would you suggest?

For your reference, this storage currently has zero writes.

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Best regards, User's image

Andrew Coughlin 235 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-02-13T20:25:40.2933333+00:00
Hello Niccolo,

Welcome to the community! Unfortunately, it is not possible to directly change the storage tier from Premium to Standard. To move from a premium storage account to a standard storage account in Azure, you need to follow a few steps since direct conversion is not supported. Here’s a detailed process:

Create a New Storage Account: First, you need to create a new storage account of the desired type (Standard). This can be done through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell.

Copy Data to the New Account: Use tools like AzCopy, Azure Storage Explorer, or Azure Data Factory to copy data from the premium storage account to the new standard storage account. AzCopy is a command-line utility designed for copying data to and from Azure Storage, and it can handle large data transfers efficiently.

Update References: Once the data is copied, update any references in your applications or services to point to the new standard storage account. This includes updating connection strings and any configurations that reference the old storage account.

Verify Data Integrity: Ensure that all data has been copied correctly and that your applications are functioning as expected with the new storage account. Perform thorough testing to verify data integrity and application performance.

Delete the Old Storage Account: After confirming that everything is working correctly with the new standard storage account, you can delete the old premium storage account to avoid incurring additional costs.

Additional reference material:

Copy or move data to Azure Storage by using AzCopy v10 | Microsoft Learn

Using Storage Explorer with Azure Files | Microsoft Learn

Migrate data from data lake and data warehouse to Azure - Azure Data Factory | Microsoft Learn
Niccolo 0 Reputation points

2025-02-13T21:55:49.5+00:00

Upon subscribing, it was not made clear that downgrading from Premium to Standard storage would necessitate a cumbersome and costly migration process.

This oversight has led to significant and unforeseen expenses for our organization. The lack of a straightforward downgrade path not only hampers operational efficiency but also imposes financial burdens that are both unreasonable and avoidable.

It is imperative that Microsoft addresses this glaring deficiency promptly. We demand the introduction of a seamless method to transition between storage tiers without the need for data migration. Failing to do so not only undermines user trust but also tarnishes Microsoft's reputation as a customer-centric service provider.

1 answer

Andrew Coughlin 235 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2025-02-13T20:24:12.9133333+00:00
Hello Niccolo,

Welcome to the community! It is not possible to directly change the storage tier from Premium to Standard. To move from a premium storage account to a standard storage account in Azure, you need to follow a few steps since direct conversion is not supported. Here’s a detailed process:

Create a New Storage Account: First, you need to create a new storage account of the desired type (Standard). This can be done through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell.

Copy Data to the New Account: Use tools like AzCopy, Azure Storage Explorer, or Azure Data Factory to copy data from the premium storage account to the new standard storage account. AzCopy is a command-line utility designed for copying data to and from Azure Storage, and it can handle large data transfers efficiently.

Update References: Once the data is copied, update any references in your applications or services to point to the new standard storage account. This includes updating connection strings and any configurations that reference the old storage account.

Verify Data Integrity: Ensure that all data has been copied correctly and that your applications are functioning as expected with the new storage account. Perform thorough testing to verify data integrity and application performance.

Delete the Old Storage Account: After confirming that everything is working correctly with the new standard storage account, you can delete the old premium storage account to avoid incurring additional costs.

Additional reference material:

Copy or move data to Azure Storage by using AzCopy v10 | Microsoft Learn

Using Storage Explorer with Azure Files | Microsoft Learn

Migrate data from data lake and data warehouse to Azure - Azure Data Factory | Microsoft Learn
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Niccolo 0 Reputation points

2025-02-13T20:30:19.79+00:00

Thanks Andrew for your prompt reply. Upon subscribing, it was not made clear that downgrading from Premium to Standard storage would necessitate a cumbersome and costly migration process.

This oversight has led to significant and unforeseen expenses for our organization. The lack of a straightforward downgrade path not only hampers operational efficiency but also imposes financial burdens that are both unreasonable and avoidable.

It is imperative that Microsoft addresses this glaring deficiency promptly. We demand the introduction of a seamless method to transition between storage tiers without the need for data migration. Failing to do so not only undermines user trust but also tarnishes Microsoft's reputation as a customer-centric service provider.

Niccolo 0 Reputation points

2025-02-13T21:55:39.17+00:00

Upon subscribing, it was not made clear that downgrading from Premium to Standard storage would necessitate a cumbersome and costly migration process.

This oversight has led to significant and unforeseen expenses for our organization. The lack of a straightforward downgrade path not only hampers operational efficiency but also imposes financial burdens that are both unreasonable and avoidable.

It is imperative that Microsoft addresses this glaring deficiency promptly. We demand the introduction of a seamless method to transition between storage tiers without the need for data migration. Failing to do so not only undermines user trust but also tarnishes Microsoft's reputation as a customer-centric service provider.

Niccolo 0 Reputation points

2025-02-13T22:05:02.5733333+00:00

Upon subscribing, it was not made clear that downgrading from Premium to Standard storage would necessitate a cumbersome and costly migration process.

This oversight has led to significant and unforeseen expenses for our organization. The lack of a straightforward downgrade path not only hampers operational efficiency but also imposes financial burdens that are both unreasonable and avoidable.

It is imperative that Microsoft addresses this glaring deficiency promptly. We demand the introduction of a seamless method to transition between storage tiers without the need for data migration. Failing to do so not only undermines user trust but also tarnishes Microsoft's reputation as a customer-centric service provider.
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Downgrading Premium Storage to Standard Without Migration

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