DEA-C02 Storage and Data Protection Practice Question
A data engineer has a permanent table ORDERS_FACT in an Enterprise Edition account with DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS set to 14. The table was dropped 20 days ago. The engineer now runs UNDROP TABLE ORDERS_FACT. What is the outcome?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is believing UNDROP can reach into Fail-safe, when Fail-safe recovery is restricted to Snowflake Support and is not a user-accessible recovery path.
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 UNDROP fails because the table is beyond the 14-day Time Travel window and is now only recoverable through Snowflake Support from Fail-safe.
UNDROP restores a dropped table only while it remains within its Time Travel retention window. With a 14-day retention and a drop 20 days ago, the table has left Time Travel and entered Fail-safe, which lasts 7 days and is accessible only through Snowflake Support. Therefore the UNDROP fails and user-level recovery is no longer available.
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 UNDROP succeeds because Fail-safe keeps dropped tables recoverable for up to 90 days.
Why it's wrong here
Fail-safe is a non-configurable 7-day period, not 90 days, and it does not make tables user-recoverable. Only Snowflake Support can access Fail-safe data, and it is intended as a last resort. The premise that Fail-safe extends user-facing recoverability to 90 days is incorrect, so this option fails on both the duration and the access model.
- ✗
The UNDROP succeeds and restores the table with its data intact.
Why it's wrong here
UNDROP can only restore a dropped table while it is still within its Time Travel retention window. Because the table was dropped 20 days ago and the retention period is 14 days, the table has already moved past Time Travel and into Fail-safe, so UNDROP cannot succeed. Data is not intact and recoverable through this command at this point.
- ✓
The UNDROP fails because the table is beyond the 14-day Time Travel window and is now only recoverable through Snowflake Support from Fail-safe.
Why this is correct
Once a dropped table passes its Time Travel retention period, it enters Fail-safe for an additional 7 days. During Fail-safe, the table cannot be restored by the user with UNDROP; only Snowflake Support can recover it, and that recovery is not guaranteed. Since 20 days exceeds the 14-day retention, UNDROP is not possible.
- ✗
The UNDROP succeeds but only restores the table structure without any data.
Why it's wrong here
UNDROP either restores the table with its data or fails entirely; it does not restore structure only. Here the statement fails because the table is outside Time Travel. There is no partial restoration mode where metadata returns but rows are omitted. This option misrepresents how UNDROP behaves and ignores the retention window that governs recoverability.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DEA-C02 question from scratch — 229 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Snowflake exam blueprint
This DEA-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Snowflake 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 DEA-C02 exam.