The correct answer is to rehydrate the blob to the Hot tier using High priority. This is because blobs in the Archive tier are offline and must be rehydrated—meaning their tier must be changed—before any read operations are possible. High priority rehydration typically completes within one hour, making it the only viable option when the legal team needs the 180-GB file available later today, whereas Standard priority can take up to 15 hours. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of Azure Blob Storage access tiers and the rehydration process, often appearing as a time-sensitive troubleshooting question. A common trap is choosing Standard priority to save costs, but the prompt explicitly states the team is willing to pay more to shorten the wait. Remember the memory tip: “High priority for a tight timeline, Standard for a slow grind.”
AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of implement and manage storage. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A 180-GB blob was moved to the Archive tier last week. A legal team now needs the file available later today for repeated review, and they are willing to pay more to shorten the wait. Which action should the administrator take first?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Rehydrate the blob to Hot tier by using High priority.
The Archive tier requires rehydration (changing the blob tier) before the data can be accessed. Rehydrating to the Hot tier with High priority is the fastest method, typically completing within 1 hour, which meets the legal team's need for later today. Standard priority rehydration can take up to 15 hours, making it too slow for the required timeline.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Rehydrate the blob to Cool tier by using Standard priority.
Why it's wrong here
This eventually restores access, but Standard priority is not the fastest choice when time is critical.
✓
Rehydrate the blob to Hot tier by using High priority.
Why this is correct
High priority rehydration is the fastest supported path, and Hot makes the blob ready for repeated access.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Copy the blob into another Archive tier container and wait for replication.
Why it's wrong here
Copying to another Archive location does not make the data readable sooner and adds no value.
✗
Change the storage account redundancy to ZRS so the blob becomes accessible faster.
Why it's wrong here
Redundancy settings do not affect Archive rehydration time or restore archived blob readability.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may think changing redundancy or copying the blob can bypass the rehydration requirement, but Azure Archive blobs must be explicitly rehydrated to an online tier before any read access is possible.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Blob rehydration involves moving the blob from the Archive tier to an online tier (Hot or Cool). High-priority rehydration typically completes within 1 hour, while Standard priority can take up to 15 hours. The rehydration process is asynchronous; the blob becomes readable only after the operation completes, and you can monitor progress via the 'Rehydration Status' property on the blob.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-104 question in full detail.
Implement and Manage Storage — This question tests Implement and Manage Storage — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Rehydrate the blob to Hot tier by using High priority. — The Archive tier requires rehydration (changing the blob tier) before the data can be accessed. Rehydrating to the Hot tier with High priority is the fastest method, typically completing within 1 hour, which meets the legal team's need for later today. Standard priority rehydration can take up to 15 hours, making it too slow for the required timeline.
What should I do if I get this AZ-104 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A team moved blob data to the Archive tier to minimize cost. They now need to restore a few files for an audit. Which two statements are true about accessing archived blobs? Select two.
medium
A.Archived blobs can be read immediately through normal blob reads.
✓ B.Rehydration is required before the blob can be read or copied.
✓ C.Rehydration can target Hot or Cool access tier.
D.Archive tier provides the fastest retrieval time.
E.Changing a blob from Archive to Hot completes instantly and synchronously.
Why B: Archived blobs are in an offline state and cannot be read or copied directly. They must first be rehydrated to an online tier (Hot or Cool) through a process that changes the blob's tier or copies it to a new online blob. This rehydration process is asynchronous and takes time, depending on the priority set.
Variation 2. A support engineer must download a blob that was moved to the Archive tier by a lifecycle rule. The file must be available as soon as possible for an investigation. What should the engineer do first?
medium
A.Download the blob directly from the Archive tier because archived blobs are always online.
✓ B.Change the blob's tier to Hot or Cool and wait for rehydration to complete.
C.Move the blob to a different container in the same account to make it downloadable immediately.
D.Disable the lifecycle rule so the blob becomes immediately readable again.
Why B: Option B is correct because blobs in the Archive tier are offline and must be rehydrated to a Hot or Cool tier before they can be accessed. Rehydration can take up to 15 hours, but setting the tier to Hot or Cool initiates the process, making the blob available as soon as possible for investigation.
Variation 3. A support engineer finds a blob that was moved to the Archive tier by a lifecycle rule and must download it today. Which two actions are required before the blob can be read? Select two.
easy
✓ A.Change the blob access tier from Archive to Hot or Cool.
✓ B.Wait until the rehydration operation finishes.
C.Download the blob directly from Archive without any tier change.
D.Disable the lifecycle management policy for the storage account.
E.Create a new container and copy the archived blob into it.
Why A: Option A is correct because a blob in the Archive tier is offline and cannot be read directly. You must change its access tier to Hot or Cool (a process called rehydration) to make it available for download. This tier change initiates an asynchronous operation that moves the blob from the archived state to an online tier.
Variation 4. A blob was moved to the Archive tier last month. A user now needs to open the file within a few hours. What should the administrator do first?
easy
A.Download the blob directly from the Archive tier
✓ B.Change the blob to Hot or Cool and wait for rehydration to complete
C.Create a snapshot of the blob and open the snapshot instead
D.Enable versioning on the storage account
Why B: Blobs in the Archive tier are offline and cannot be read directly. To access the data, you must first change the blob's access tier to Hot or Cool, which initiates a rehydration process that makes the blob available for reading. Since the user needs the file within a few hours, rehydration typically completes within that timeframe (up to 15 hours for Archive to Cool/Hot).
Variation 5. A blob was moved to the Archive tier last month. A project team now needs the file available later today, and they expect to read it several times during review. What should the administrator do first?
medium
A.Copy the blob directly from Archive to a local machine and reopen it there.
✓ B.Start a rehydration request and move the blob to the Hot tier with high priority.
C.Change the blob to the Cool tier immediately and expect it to become available within minutes.
D.Create a lifecycle rule to move the blob back to Hot automatically on the next day.
Why B: Option B is correct because a blob in the Archive tier is offline and must be rehydrated (changed to Hot or Cool) before it can be accessed. Using high-priority rehydration ensures the blob becomes available within 1 hour, which meets the requirement for later today. The Hot tier is appropriate since the team expects to read the blob several times, providing low-latency access without incurring read costs from Cool tier.
Variation 6. Quarterly invoices were moved to the Archive tier by a lifecycle rule. An auditor now needs one specific blob available for download within the next hour. What should the administrator do?
hard
A.Change the lifecycle rule so the blob will automatically move back to Hot on the next run.
B.Set the blob directly to the Hot tier and download it immediately.
✓ C.Start a high-priority rehydration of the blob to the Hot tier, then wait for completion before downloading.
D.Copy the archived blob to another container by using the portal copy command.
Why C: Option C is correct because blobs in the Archive tier are offline and must be rehydrated to an online tier (Hot or Cool) before they can be accessed. A high-priority rehydration completes within one hour, meeting the auditor's deadline. Changing a lifecycle rule (A) or directly setting the tier (B) does not initiate the necessary rehydration process, and copying an archived blob (D) fails because the blob is offline.
Variation 7. An operations team archived monthly log exports six weeks ago. An auditor now needs one specific blob restored within a day, and the file will likely be opened several times during the audit. Which action should the administrator take first?
hard
A.Set the blob directly to the Archive tier again
✓ B.Rehydrate the blob to the Hot tier
C.Create a snapshot of the archived blob and open the snapshot
D.Increase the account redundancy to RA-GRS before the audit
Why B: The blob is currently in the Archive tier, which is offline and cannot be read directly. To access the data, the blob must first be rehydrated to an online tier (Hot or Cool) by changing its tier or copying it to a new blob. Rehydrating to the Hot tier ensures the blob is available for multiple reads within the audit timeframe, as the rehydration process typically takes up to 15 hours for Archive tier blobs.
Variation 8. A legal department archived a 120-GB blob three weeks ago. They now need the file available for review later today, and waiting more than a day would delay a court filing. What should the administrator do to make the blob readable as quickly as possible?
medium
A.Copy the blob to a new container and leave it in the Archive tier until the users need it.
✓ B.Start rehydration from Archive and choose High priority.
C.Change the access tier from Archive directly to Cool and then download the blob immediately.
D.Enable soft delete on the container and restore the blob from deleted items.
Why B: Option B is correct because rehydrating a blob from the Archive tier with High priority typically makes the blob readable within 1 hour, meeting the urgent same-day requirement. The Archive tier is offline, so the blob must be rehydrated (changed to an online tier like Hot or Cool) before it can be accessed. High-priority rehydration is designed for time-sensitive scenarios like this court filing deadline.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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