- A
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Glacier Deep Archive provides the lowest storage cost with retrieval times up to 12 hours.
- B
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Why wrong: Intelligent-Tiering incurs monitoring fees and is not optimal for data that is rarely accessed.
- C
Amazon S3 Standard
Why wrong: S3 Standard is designed for frequent access, making it costly for archival data.
- D
Amazon S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
Why wrong: One Zone-IA is less durable and may have retrieval costs; not optimal for 10-year retention.
Question 1,639 of 1,786
S3 Glacier Deep Archive for Archival Logs — Cost-Effective Storage | AWS Data Engineer Associate Explained
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data store management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company needs to store archival logs that must be retained for 10 years. The logs are accessed infrequently, but when accessed, retrieval must occur within 12 hours. Which storage class is MOST cost-effective?
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
✓
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive is the most cost-effective storage class for archival logs that must be retained for 10 years with infrequent access and a 12-hour retrieval window. It offers the lowest storage cost among S3 classes, with retrieval times typically within 12 hours for standard retrievals, making it ideal for long-term archival data that is rarely accessed.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why this is correct
Glacier Deep Archive provides the lowest storage cost with retrieval times up to 12 hours.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Why it's wrong here
Intelligent-Tiering incurs monitoring fees and is not optimal for data that is rarely accessed.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Standard
Why it's wrong here
S3 Standard is designed for frequent access, making it costly for archival data.
- ✗
Amazon S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
Why it's wrong here
One Zone-IA is less durable and may have retrieval costs; not optimal for 10-year retention.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse retrieval time with cost, assuming that any class with faster retrieval is better, but the 12-hour retrieval window explicitly allows the use of the lowest-cost archival tier, making Glacier Deep Archive the correct choice despite its slower retrieval speed.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
S3 Glacier Deep Archive uses a tape-based storage architecture under the hood, with data stored in redundant facilities across multiple Availability Zones, providing 99.999999999% durability. Retrieval requests are queued and processed in batches, with standard retrievals typically completing within 12 hours, but expedited retrievals (1-5 minutes) are available at higher cost. A real-world scenario where this matters is a financial institution required by SEC Rule 17a-4 to retain records for 7-10 years; using Glacier Deep Archive minimizes storage costs while meeting compliance retrieval SLAs.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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 |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DEA-C01 question test?
Data Store Management — This question tests Data Store Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive — Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive is the most cost-effective storage class for archival logs that must be retained for 10 years with infrequent access and a 12-hour retrieval window. It offers the lowest storage cost among S3 classes, with retrieval times typically within 12 hours for standard retrievals, making it ideal for long-term archival data that is rarely accessed.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on DEA-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company needs to store log files from multiple applications in a centralized location. The logs are written once and accessed rarely after 30 days. The company must retain logs for 5 years. Which TWO actions meet these requirements cost-effectively?
easy- ✓ A.Configure a lifecycle policy to transition objects to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 30 days
- B.Configure a lifecycle policy to transition objects to S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval after 30 days
- ✓ C.Use S3 Intelligent-Tiering for automatic cost optimization
- D.Use S3 One Zone-IA for the first 30 days, then delete
- E.Store all logs in S3 Standard
Why A: Option A is correct because S3 Glacier Deep Archive is the lowest-cost storage class for data that is accessed rarely, with retrieval times of 12 hours or more, making it ideal for logs that are rarely accessed after 30 days. A lifecycle policy transitions objects from a higher-cost class (e.g., S3 Standard) to S3 Glacier Deep Archive after 30 days, meeting the 5-year retention requirement cost-effectively.
Variation 2. 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?
easy- A.S3 Intelligent-Tiering
- B.S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval
- C.S3 Standard
- ✓ D.S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Why D: 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.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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