The amount of data generated is approximately doubling every two years. How do we store and manage these colossal amounts of data? ‘Storing big data’ considers database storage and the idea of distributing tasks across clusters of computers. Relational database management systems are used to create, maintain, access, and manipulate structured data, whereas distributed file systems provide effective and reliable storage for unstructured data across many servers. NoSQL databases and their architecture are discussed along with the CAP Theorem and Cloud storage. The difference between lossless compression for text files and lossy data compression for sound and image files is also explained.