PDE Ingesting and Processing the Data Practice Question
A company wants to transfer 500 TB of data from an on-premises Hadoop cluster to Google Cloud Storage (GCS) for processing with Dataproc. The on-premises network has a 1 Gbps dedicated link to Google Cloud. The data must be transferred as quickly as possible, minimizing network usage. Which transfer method should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to assume parallel transfers (gsutil cp) or managed services (Storage Transfer Service) can overcome bandwidth limitations, but they ignore the fundamental physics of a 1 Gbps link and the sheer size of 500 TB.
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
✓
Use Transfer Appliance to physically ship the data.
Transfer Appliance is the correct method because the dataset is 500 TB and the network link is only 1 Gbps. At 1 Gbps, the theoretical maximum transfer time is over 46 days, and real-world throughput (due to overhead, congestion, and Hadoop data characteristics) would be even longer. Transfer Appliance physically ships the data, bypassing the network bottleneck entirely and minimizing network usage, which is the stated requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Storage Transfer Service over the 1 Gbps link.
Why it's wrong here
At 1 Gbps, transferring 500 TB would take about 46 days, which is slow and uses network bandwidth.
- ✗
Use gsutil cp in parallel with multiple threads.
Why it's wrong here
gsutil is still limited by the 1 Gbps network bandwidth.
- ✓
Use Transfer Appliance to physically ship the data.
Why this is correct
Transfer Appliance can handle 500 TB in a single appliance, transferring the data offline within days.
- ✗
Use BigQuery Data Transfer Service for Hadoop.
Why it's wrong here
BigQuery Data Transfer Service does not support Hadoop; it supports services like Google Ads, Amazon S3, etc.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PDE 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 PDE exam.