AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
A legal team archived a 200-GB blob last quarter. They now need to open it repeatedly later today for review, and waiting more than a day would delay the case. Which two actions should the administrator take? Select two.
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to think setting the rehydration priority to High alone is sufficient, but without specifying a target tier (like Hot), the rehydration request is incomplete and the blob remains archived.
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
✓
Start a rehydration request and target the Hot tier.
Rehydrating a blob from the Archive tier to the Hot tier makes it accessible for frequent reads. The Hot tier is optimized for high-frequency access, which matches the legal team's need to open the blob repeatedly later today. Rehydration is the only way to change the blob's tier from Archive to an online tier like Hot.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Start a rehydration request and target the Hot tier.
Why this is correct
Archive blobs are stored in offline storage and cannot be read or modified until they are moved to an online tier. To make the 200 GB blob accessible, you must issue a rehydration request that changes its tier from Archive to Hot (or Cool). Targeting Hot is appropriate here because the team needs fast, same-day access, and Hot tier provides immediate availability and low-latency reads once the rehydration completes.
- ✓
Set the rehydration priority to High.
Why this is correct
A rehydration request can be submitted with either a Standard or High priority, and selecting High significantly reduces the time needed to bring the blob into an online tier. While Standard priority can take up to 15 hours, High priority typically completes within 1 hour, which is essential when the legal team must use the blob the same day. Note that High priority incurs a higher cost, but the business need for urgent access justifies the expense in this scenario.
- ✗
Copy the blob directly while it remains in the Archive tier.
Why it's wrong here
A direct copy operation on an archived blob fails because the source data is stored in offline storage and is not available for any operation until it has been rehydrated to an online tier. Even if you attempt a copy without specifying a new access tier, Azure will not read the archived source. To copy the data, you must first rehydrate the blob to Hot or Cool; after rehydration, you can copy it to another location, but the copy operation itself cannot bypass the rehydration requirement.
When this WOULD be correct
If the blob were already in the Cool or Hot tier, you could copy it directly without rehydration. For example, a question where a blob is in Cool tier and needs to be copied to another storage account.
- ✗
Change the blob back to the Archive tier after the request starts.
Why it's wrong here
If you set the blob back to the Archive tier after starting a rehydration request, you essentially cancel the purpose of the rehydration: the blob will be moved back to offline storage and will remain unreadable. While the archive tier is the most cost-effective for long-term retention, it does not support direct reads. Therefore, this action keeps the blob offline and prevents the legal team from accessing it today, making it counterproductive to their urgent need.
When this WOULD be correct
In a scenario where a blob is accidentally rehydrated and you want to minimize storage costs by returning it to the Archive tier before the rehydration completes, this action would be correct. For example, if a rehydration was started by mistake and the blob is not needed immediately, changing the tier back to Archive stops the process and avoids higher storage costs.
- ✗
Take a snapshot first and expect it to make the archived blob readable immediately.
Why it's wrong here
A snapshot is a read-only point-in-time copy of a blob, but it does not override the storage tier of the underlying blob. If you take a snapshot of an archived blob, the snapshot is also in the Archive tier and remains equally unreadable until the base blob is rehydrated. Snapshotting only helps with versioning or rollback scenarios; it has no effect on bringing archived data online, so this action would not make the blob accessible today.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked how to preserve a point-in-time copy of a blob before modifying it, and the blob is in a hot or cool tier (not archive), taking a snapshot would be correct. For example: 'You need to capture the current state of a blob before updating it.'
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-104 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Start a rehydration request and target the Hot tier.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Archive blobs are stored in offline storage and cannot be read or modified until they are moved to an online tier. To make the 200 GB blob accessible, you must issue a rehydration request that changes its tier from Archive to Hot (or Cool). Targeting Hot is appropriate here because the team needs fast, same-day access, and Hot tier provides immediate availability and low-latency reads once the rehydration completes.
✗Copy the blob directly while it remains in the Archive tier.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
You cannot directly copy a blob while it remains in the Archive tier; the blob must first be rehydrated to an online tier (Hot, Cool, or Cold) before any read or copy operation.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the blob were already in the Cool or Hot tier, you could copy it directly without rehydration. For example, a question where a blob is in Cool tier and needs to be copied to another storage account.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that copying an archived blob is possible because they confuse the Archive tier with offline tiers that support direct copy operations, or they assume that Azure handles rehydration automatically during copy.
✗Change the blob back to the Archive tier after the request starts.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Changing the blob back to the Archive tier after starting a rehydration request does not accelerate access; the blob must be rehydrated to a hot or cool tier before it can be read. The rehydration process is already in progress, and reverting to Archive would cancel or delay access.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
In a scenario where a blob is accidentally rehydrated and you want to minimize storage costs by returning it to the Archive tier before the rehydration completes, this action would be correct. For example, if a rehydration was started by mistake and the blob is not needed immediately, changing the tier back to Archive stops the process and avoids higher storage costs.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates might think that changing the tier back to Archive after starting rehydration is a way to 'undo' the request or that it somehow helps manage the process, not realizing that the blob must remain in a rehydrated state to be accessible.
✗Take a snapshot first and expect it to make the archived blob readable immediately.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Snapshots of an archived blob remain in the Archive tier and are not immediately readable; they must be rehydrated first, which takes time. A snapshot does not bypass the rehydration requirement.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked how to preserve a point-in-time copy of a blob before modifying it, and the blob is in a hot or cool tier (not archive), taking a snapshot would be correct. For example: 'You need to capture the current state of a blob before updating it.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may mistakenly believe that snapshots make data instantly accessible or that they override tier restrictions, confusing snapshot functionality with instant read access.
Analysis generated from the official AZ-104blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
Go deeper
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Key term
Archive tier
Archive tier is an ultra-low-cost Azure Blob Storage access tier designed for long-term retention of data that is rarely accessed and can tolerate hours of retrieval latency.
Key term
Hot tier
Hot tier is a storage category used for data that is accessed frequently and needs fast retrieval, typically stored on high-performance hardware like SSDs.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-104 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 AZ-104 exam.