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CV0-004 Practice Question: A company uses a cloud object storage service to…
A company uses a cloud object storage service to store backup data. The cloud provider charges for storage and retrieval. The operations team wants to minimize costs while ensuring data is available within 24 hours of a restore request. Which storage tier should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'cold storage' with 'archive storage' or assume that any tier with a retrieval time under 24 hours is equally cost-effective, overlooking that cold storage specifically balances cost and retrieval time for infrequent access needs.
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
✓
Cold storage tier with retrieval time of 12 hours
The cold storage tier offers a retrieval time of 12 hours, which meets the requirement of making data available within 24 hours while minimizing costs compared to hotter tiers. Cold storage is designed for infrequently accessed data with longer retrieval times, providing a cost-effective balance between availability and expense for backup 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.
- ✗
Archive storage tier with retrieval time of 48 hours
Why it's wrong here
A 48-hour retrieval time breaches the stated 24-hour restore requirement, so the backup would be unavailable when needed. Archive tiers with multi-day retrieval suit compliance retention where restores are rare and delays are contractually acceptable.
- ✗
Hot storage tier
Why it's wrong here
Hot tier bills the highest storage rate, so it cannot minimise cost for backup data rarely read; retrieval is immediate, far exceeding the 24-hour requirement. It suits frequently accessed, latency-sensitive production data, not archival backups.
- ✓
Cold storage tier with retrieval time of 12 hours
Why this is correct
Cold storage's 12-hour retrieval sits comfortably within the 24-hour restore window, and its lower storage and access pricing directly satisfies the cost-minimisation constraint. Warmer tiers would restore faster but charge more for storage and retrieval, exceeding what the 24-hour availability requirement actually demands.
- ✗
Infrequent access tier with retrieval time of 1 hour
Why it's wrong here
Infrequent access still carries a higher per-gigabyte storage rate than archive tiers, so it does not minimise cost when the 24-hour window permits deep archival. It fits data accessed occasionally but needed within an hour.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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