How is data stored?

Now that we know about row keys, column families and columns, we will gradually move towards examining this data model in more detail and understand how the data is actually stored. We will examine the logical storage and then dive into the actual structure, as it ends up on the disk.

The data that we presented in the earlier table had no order and was listed as it came to my mind. However, while storing, the data is always sorted by the row key. So now, the data will actually be stored like this:

	Personal		professional
Key(name)	personal:lastname	personal:age	professional:company	professional:designation
Kim	Yong	32	Sony	Director
Mohsin	Hijazee	29	Sony	Senior Designer
Paul	Jefferson	39	LG	Sales Head
Peter	Smith	34	Panasonic	General Manager
Ricky	Martin	45	Panasonic	CTO

OK, so what happened here? The name column indicates the key of the table and now, the whole table is sorted by the key. That's exactly how it is stored...