MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
A data engineer needs to transfer 50 TB of historical data from an on-premises Hadoop cluster to Amazon S3. The company has a 100 Mbps internet connection and a tight deadline of two weeks. Which AWS service should the engineer use to transfer the data most efficiently?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates may overestimate the effectiveness of network optimization services like S3 Transfer Acceleration or DataSync, failing to calculate that even with perfect efficiency, a 100 Mbps link cannot transfer 50 TB in two weeks due to the fundamental bandwidth limitation.
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
✓
AWS Snowball Edge
B is correct because transferring 50 TB over a 100 Mbps connection would take approximately 48 days (50 TB * 8 / 100 Mbps / 86400 seconds/day), far exceeding the two-week deadline. AWS Snowball Edge is a physical data transport device that can securely transfer petabytes of data offline, bypassing network bandwidth constraints entirely. For large datasets and tight deadlines, Snowball Edge is the most efficient AWS service.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Storage Gateway (Volume Gateway)
Why it's wrong here
Storage Gateway is for ongoing hybrid storage, not for bulk historical transfer.
- ✓
AWS Snowball Edge
Why this is correct
Snowball Edge provides physical shipping, bypassing bandwidth limitations.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
Still limited by internet bandwidth; not sufficient for 50 TB in two weeks.
- ✗
AWS DataSync over the internet
Why it's wrong here
100 Mbps is too slow for 50 TB in two weeks.
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
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MLS-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 MLS-C01 exam.