Tom Galligan draws on his experience running large-scale bioinformatics pipelines to examine how Kubernetes and cloud storage interact - and why storage is often a critical performance bottleneck. This talk demystifies the common storage patterns in Kubernetes, tracing the data journey from pod to disk and back. Galligan will demonstrate how to use open-source observability tools to detect performance issues and troubleshoot storage inefficiencies. The session will also highlight best practices for maximizing throughput and reliability, and offer practical guidance on optimizing cloud storage for demanding workloads. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of Kubernetes storage internals and actionable strategies to boost performance in production environments.