PAS-C01 Migration Practice Question
A company plans to migrate 50 TB of archived data from on-premises tape storage to Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive. The data is rarely accessed. Which migration method is most cost-effective and suitable for the data volume?
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
AWS Snowball Edge is a physical device that can transfer large amounts of data offline, avoiding high network costs. For 50 TB, Snowball Edge is cost-effective and efficient. Option C is correct. Option A (AWS DataSync) is for network-based transfers, which may be slow and costly for 50 TB. Option B (AWS CLI with multipart upload) would require significant network bandwidth and time. Option D (AWS Database Migration Service) is for database migration.
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 DataSync
Why it's wrong here
DataSync is network-based; for 50 TB it might be slow and costly.
- ✗
AWS CLI with multipart upload
Why it's wrong here
Network upload of 50 TB is time-consuming and expensive.
- ✓
AWS Snowball Edge
Why this is correct
Snowball Edge is designed for large offline data transfers.
- ✗
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why it's wrong here
DMS is for database migration, not file archives.
Visual reference
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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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-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 PAS-C01 exam.