DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer manages an Amazon S3 data lake with a bucket that has S3 Versioning enabled. A downstream analytics job accidentally overwrites thousands of current objects with corrupted data. The engineer must restore the previous good versions quickly and prevent the corrupted versions from being served. Which action should the engineer take?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse overwrite recovery with delete-marker handling or treating Object Lock as a rollback feature, when restoring a prior version requires copying the noncurrent version back to the key.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Restore the previous good versions by copying them to overwrite the corrupted current versions
S3 Versioning retains the prior object version on every overwrite, so the good data still exists as a noncurrent version. Copying that version back to the same key creates a new current version with the correct content, immediately restoring what consumers read while preserving history. Deleting versions, removing delete markers, or enabling Object Lock do not perform this rollback and may cause data loss or fail to address overwrites.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Restore the previous good versions by copying them to overwrite the corrupted current versions
Why this is correct
With versioning enabled, each overwrite creates a new version while retaining the prior one. Copying the previous good version back onto the same key creates a new current version containing the good data, so downstream readers immediately see correct content without losing the audit trail. This can be scripted across thousands of objects using S3 Batch Operations with a version-aware copy, restoring the data lake quickly and safely.
- ✗
Delete the corrupted object versions so the previous versions become current
Why it's wrong here
Deleting the corrupted current versions removes them permanently, but it does not automatically promote the prior versions to current in a way that downstream readers expect, and it destroys the ability to audit what was written. It also risks deleting good historical versions if version IDs are misidentified. This approach is destructive and does not cleanly restore the prior good state for consumers.
- ✗
Remove the delete markers and re-upload the original files from a local backup
Why it's wrong here
Delete markers are relevant when objects are deleted, not overwritten, so removing them does not address overwritten objects. Re-uploading from a local backup assumes a backup exists and reintroduces the same data manually, which is slow for thousands of objects and error-prone. This action does not leverage S3 Versioning to recover the prior good versions and may not even apply to the scenario.
- ✗
Enable S3 Object Lock in governance mode on the bucket to roll back the changes
Why it's wrong here
S3 Object Lock prevents deletion or overwrite of object versions for a retention period, but enabling it now does not revert already-overwritten objects. It is a preventive control applied at write time, not a rollback mechanism. Governance mode also requires specific permissions and would not restore prior content. This option misunderstands Object Lock as a recovery tool rather than a retention safeguard.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This DEA-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DEA-C01 exam.