Firstly, let's talk about large ships and stations. There are only two options for cargo containers available, and each has their usefulness.
From a cursory glance, it appears as if the large cargo container would be simply better, as it can hold far more. If you go by a one-to-one comparison of them, that would be true. But, as the image above shows, you can fit twenty-seven small cargo containers in the same space that would allow for a single large one. Not only is this more than three times the total storage capacity of a single large container, but it also triples the number of solid connection points to be used during construction, as well as the number of ports that can be used to access the inventory, either by hand or via a conveyer system.
There are some downsides to using small cargo containers in place of large ones. First and foremost is the fact that building that many small containers takes far more resources, averaging nearly nine times as many components as a single large container costs to build. Using this many small containers also clutters up the ship's terminal with twenty-seven more separate entries, which can make inventory sorting far more difficult. And finally, there are times where using a large cargo container simply has a better aesthetic feel, such as in the construction of ships designed to be massive, deep-space freighters traveling between obscenely long distances. The latter tends to be the major deciding factor any time I have to make this sort of a choice.
Now let's talk about the options for small ships. This isn't as simple of a comparison as the previous discussion, primarily because of the differences in how different items can be moved or stored due to the size of connection points that each size of cargo container allows. I'll explain this issue in further detail, as well as the ins-and-outs of conveyer systems, in a later post.
Small ships have three options: small, medium and large cargo containers. In terms of raw storage capacity, once again the large container wins in a one-to-one comparison of the three. But as far as efficiency goes, the medium can hold more per block of its size. Given that the small cargo containers only have access ports on two sides and cannot hold some of the components that the game considers "large" due to its lack of large access ports, the earlier suggestion of simply building a large cube of small containers simply doesn't work. Each different option still has their uses, however.
Personally, I prefer to use small cargo containers for personal storage; an extra welder, grinder and hand drill to be kept with each small ship I fly, in the event that I somehow lose or misplace my starting tools. A small container can easily hold some extra fuel to be put in a ship's back-up reactor by hand if the craft is designed more with battery power in mind.
For any ship that is going to have its own storage bay, even if only temporarily before it can bring its cargo off to a waiting refinery ship or such, I go with medium containers. They can be easier to fit in amongst the construction in less obtrusive ways. Depending on the design, a large cargo container may simply look far too bulky, giving the ship a strange look. Medium containers can smoothly transition to small ship welders, grinders and mining drills due to their being the same basic three-by-three block size, as well as to the large connectors that allow you to attach to large ships for cargo movement.
A single large cargo container, on the other hand, is the same size as a single block of armor for large ships and stations. For any design that might use free-floating cargo containers, as if for some kind of a freight hauler, these would be ideal. Aaron, of LastStandGamers, suggests just this sort of an idea in one of his many Space Engineers videos, which can be seen here.
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