Using Azure Import/Export

Azure Import/Export is a service that allows you to import and export data quickly and securely to and from an Azure data center. Data imported is stored either in Azure Blob storage or Azure Files. The value of the services is for managing large amounts of data into or out of Azure where time to get data out is of importance, or costs associated with the transfer of data in and out of Azure are too prohibitive.

The disk drives that are going to be shipped to the Azure data center need to be prepared before shipment. BitLocker encryption needs to be enabled, and once the volume is encrypted, you can copy data to it. After encryption, a disk needs to be prepared using the WAImportExport.exe tool. By running this tool, a journal file is automatically created in the same folder that you ran the tool. There are two other files created as well—an .xml file and a drive-manifest.xml file. You need these files later for creating an import/export job. The...