DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer needs to store archival data that is rarely accessed but must be retained for 7 years. The data should be retrievable within 12 hours. Which Amazon S3 storage class is MOST cost-effective?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval (which offers faster retrieval but higher cost) with S3 Glacier Deep Archive, failing to recognize that the 12-hour retrieval requirement is easily met by Deep Archive's standard retrieval, making it the most cost-effective choice for long-term archival.
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
✓
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
S3 Glacier Deep Archive is the most cost-effective storage class for archival data that is rarely accessed and requires a 7-year retention period, with retrieval times up to 12 hours. It offers the lowest storage cost among S3 classes, making it ideal for long-term retention of data that does not need immediate access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Why it's wrong here
Intelligent-Tiering auto-tiers but may not move to Deep Archive.
- ✗
S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval
Why it's wrong here
Retrieval minutes to hours, but more expensive than Deep Archive.
- ✗
S3 Standard
Why it's wrong here
Standard is for frequently accessed data.
- ✓
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why this is correct
Lowest cost with 12-hour retrieval.
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 |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DEA-C01 question from scratch — 1,711 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.