⚙️ Data Vault Storage Calculator
Estimate Your Data Vault Storage:
This tool helps estimate the storage required for a Data Vault 2.0 model. Input details about your Hubs, Links, Satellites, common column sizes, and expected overheads.
Note: All "total rows" inputs should reflect the total number of records you expect in those table types across your entire Data Vault after the initial load and considering growth over your retention period for Satellites.
Hubs
Links
Satellites
Standard Column Sizes (Bytes) & Overhead
Disclaimer: This calculator provides a high-level estimate. Actual database storage can vary significantly based on your specific Database Management System (DBMS), data type precision, compression, indexing strategies, fragmentation, file system overhead, and other factors. Always validate with specific DBMS sizing tools and perform tests.
Back in 2017, I helped a multinational law firm comply with new data retention mandates under the GDPR. They had over 100TB of legacy files, unstructured and scattered across six countries. The client wanted to create a “digital vault”—a secure, encrypted, long-term data store—but didn’t know how much space they needed, how long to keep data, or how much it would cost across cloud providers. That chaos sparked the birth of what I now call the Data Vault Calculator—a forecasting framework for smart, compliant, and cost-effective data preservation.
Whether you’re a compliance officer, CTO, data engineer, or legal counsel, this guide will show you how to estimate, structure, and manage your data vaults with surgical precision.
What Is a Data Vault?
A data vault is not just cold storage—it’s a secure, encrypted, long-term repository for critical, often legally mandated, archival data. Think:
Medical records (HIPAA)
Legal contracts (GDPR, SOX)
Financial statements (SEC/IRS compliance)
Surveillance or audit logs
AI training datasets under IP protection
It lives in cold or glacier-tier cloud storage, encrypted at rest, with version control, access logging, and integrity validation.
Why You Need a Data Vault Calculator
Without smart estimates, you risk:
Overpaying for unused space
Underestimating compliance timelines
Breaking regulatory limits
Botching recovery SLAs during audits or legal requests
IDC estimates that enterprise cold storage demand will exceed 300ZB by 2030, driven largely by regulation (IDC Storage Trends, Q1 2025).
Key Variables in Vault Estimation
| Variable | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Data type | Video, legal text, images, logs, DICOM, etc. |
| Compression ratio | Lossless vs lossy can slash storage needs |
| Retention period | 1 year vs 7 years vs indefinite |
| Redundancy policy | Single-region vs multi-region backup |
| Access frequency | “Vault” = near-zero access; prioritize cold tiers |
| Encryption overhead | Adds 2–5% depending on algorithm |
| Legal deletion policies | Some files must be auto-deleted after expiry |
🔒 Pro tip: Map vaults by category + compliance timeline (e.g.,
contracts_7yr,biometrics_10yr,backups_3yr).
The Data Vault Calculator Framework
Step 1: Estimate Raw Data Size
Sum total files per vault category
Use average file sizes (see examples below)
Step 2: Apply Compression Ratio
| Type | Format | Est. Compression |
|---|---|---|
| Legal PDFs | Text-based | 60–80% |
| Images | TIFF to JPEG | 40–60% |
| Video | H.264 to H.265 | 30–50% |
| Logs | JSON to gzip | 70–85% |
Step 3: Add Encryption Overhead
AES-256 adds ~2–5%
Add optional blockchain/hash logging (~1%)
Step 4: Apply Redundancy/Retention Multiplier
| Strategy | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| No backup | 1.0x |
| Daily snapshot (7 days) | 1.25x |
| Geo-replication (multi-region) | 2–3x |
| WORM (Write Once, Read Many) | +10% overhead |
Final Formula
Use Case Scenarios (Real-World)
📁 Legal Compliance Archive (GDPR)
200,000 PDF contracts @ 500KB each = 95.37GB
Compression (60%) = 38GB
AES Encryption = +5%
7-year retention, dual-region backup = 2.1x
Estimated Vault Size = ~83.8GB
🧬 Biotech Data Vault (HIPAA)
500K DICOM images @ 2MB = 1TB
Minimal compression (medical-grade)
WORM & versioning = +12%
10-year policy
Estimated Vault Size = 1.12TB
🎥 Surveillance Footage (7-Year Legal Hold)
2 hours/day of 720p H.264 video = 20GB/day
365 × 7 = 2.5 years raw = ~51TB
Storage Class: AWS Glacier Deep Archive
Retrieval Class: Bulk
Estimated Vault Size = ~51TB
Estimated Cost = ~$200/year in cold cloud
Mini FAQ
Q1: What’s the difference between cold storage and a data vault?
Cold storage is just one part. A data vault includes encryption, retention policy, versioning, and sometimes legal logging like WORM.
Q2: How do I choose the right storage class?
Use Glacier Deep Archive for ultra-cold needs, S3 Standard-IA for moderate access, and local tape/offline if air-gapping is required.
Q3: How much does encryption really add?
Typically 2–5% for AES-256. Minimal cost, maximum protection.
Q4: What if I delete data before retention expires?
You risk non-compliance. Some regulations require legal holds—tools like AWS S3 Object Lock help enforce that.
Q5: Should I build or buy a vault system?
Depends on your needs. Use cloud-native options (e.g., AWS Vault + Object Lock) unless you’re highly regulated and need custom on-prem builds.