AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are true about Azure Blob Storage access tiers?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse the cost trade-off between storage and access—candidates often assume 'cool' means cheaper overall, but they miss that access costs are higher, and they mistakenly think archive supports daily access due to its low storage cost.
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 cool access tier has lower storage costs but higher access costs compared to the hot tier
Azure Blob Storage's cool access tier is designed for infrequently accessed data, offering lower storage costs than the hot tier but higher access costs (per GB read/write) to compensate for the reduced storage price. This cost trade-off aligns with typical usage patterns where data is stored long-term but accessed less often.
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 cool access tier has lower storage costs but higher access costs compared to the hot tier
Why this is correct
Cool is a lower-cost storage tier for data expected to remain for at least 30 days and be accessed only occasionally. It reduces capacity charges compared with Hot, but compensates with higher per-GB read/write and early-deletion fees, so access-heavy workloads become more expensive on Cool.
- ✗
The cool access tier is designed for data that is accessed more frequently than the hot tier
Why it's wrong here
The Hot tier is the one engineered for high-frequency access with the highest storage price but lower transaction/retrieval costs. Cool is explicitly for data that is infrequently accessed but still needs immediate availability, so the statement inverts the tiers' design goals.
- ✗
The archive access tier is suitable for data that is accessed daily
Why it's wrong here
Archive is designed for data that may be accessed at most a few times a year and tolerates retrieval times of up to 15 hours (or hours with rehydration). Daily access would incur high retrieval costs and unacceptable latency, making Hot or Cool the appropriate tiers.
- ✓
The archive access tier has the lowest storage costs but the highest retrieval latency
Why this is correct
Archive has the lowest per-GB storage price of all tiers, but is offline and requires a rehydration operation to move blobs to Hot or Cool before access, typically taking from minutes to 15 hours. This makes retrieval latency far higher than the immediate-access Hot or Cool tiers.
- ✗
The hot access tier has the lowest storage costs
Why it's wrong here
Hot has the highest capacity price among access tiers because it is optimized for real-time, repeated access; it stores data redundantly ready for immediate retrieval. Its per-access costs are lower, but its storage cost is never the lowest when compared with Cool or Archive.
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 |
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