hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
Google ACE Practice Question: Refer to the exhibit
Network Topology
Refer to the exhibit. A user tries to delete the disk 'my-disk' but receives an error. Based on the exhibit, what is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that snapshots or disk size prevent deletion, but the real blocker is the attachment state, which is a common oversight when managing persistent disks.
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
✓
The disk is still attached to an instance.
A disk cannot be deleted while it is attached to a running or stopped instance. In Google Cloud, you must first detach the disk from the instance before deletion. The error message indicates the disk is in use, and the exhibit confirms it is attached to an instance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The disk is being used by a snapshot.
Why it's wrong here
A snapshot is an independent backup of a persistent disk's data at a point in time. The existence of a snapshot does not prevent deletion of the underlying disk; you can delete the disk and still keep the snapshot for later restore. In this scenario, no snapshot reference is shown in the exhibit, and even if one existed, it would not be the reason for the deletion failure.
- ✗
The disk size must be 0 to delete.
Why it's wrong here
The size of a persistent disk is irrelevant to whether it can be deleted. Whether the disk is 10 GB or 10 TB, the delete operation only requires that the disk is not attached to an instance and that you have the appropriate IAM permissions. A disk with data can be deleted just as easily as an empty one, so a zero-size requirement is not a real constraint in Google Cloud.
- ✓
The disk is still attached to an instance.
Why this is correct
The USERS column in the console output lists the instances that are currently using the disk as an attached persistent disk. When a disk is attached to an instance, it is in use and cannot be deleted until you either delete the instance or detach the disk first (if the instance is stopped). This is the correct reason the deletion fails in the exhibit.
- ✗
The disk is not in the correct project.
Why it's wrong here
The project context shown in the exhibit is my-project, and the deletion is attempted from that same project, so the disk is in the correct project. If the disk belonged to a different project, you would not see it here unless you had cross-project permissions, and even then the error would be a permissions issue rather than a wrong-project message. Since the project matches, this is not the cause.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ACE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud 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 ACE exam.