DEA-C02 Storage and Data Protection Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a storage strategy for a Snowflake account. The engineer wants to reduce Fail-safe storage costs and must understand which table types are exempt from Fail-safe. (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that setting retention to 0 on a permanent table removes Fail-safe, when Fail-safe is tied to table type, not retention.
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
✓
Temporary tables
Fail-safe applies only to permanent tables. Transient and temporary tables are exempt, so they do not generate Fail-safe storage costs. This makes them suitable for data that can be recreated or that only needs short-term protection, while permanent tables continue to carry the 7-day Fail-safe window after Time Travel expires.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Permanent tables with DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS set to 0
Why it's wrong here
Setting retention to 0 disables Time Travel on a permanent table, but Fail-safe still applies after any data changes. Permanent tables always carry the 7-day Fail-safe window regardless of the Time Travel setting. This option incorrectly assumes that disabling Time Travel also removes Fail-safe, which is not the case.
- ✓
Temporary tables
Why this is correct
Temporary tables exist only within a session and are dropped automatically when the session ends. They have minimal Time Travel and no Fail-safe coverage, so they do not incur Fail-safe storage costs. For session-scoped scratch data, temporary tables provide the lowest protection and lowest storage overhead, matching the engineer's cost-reduction goal.
- ✗
External tables referencing cloud storage files
Why it's wrong here
External tables reference data outside Snowflake, and Fail-safe does not apply to the external files or provide the same recovery model. However, this question asks specifically about table types exempt from Fail-safe storage charges within Snowflake's protection model, and external tables are not typically counted among the transient and temporary categories used for this purpose.
- ✓
Transient tables
Why this is correct
Transient tables are explicitly excluded from Fail-safe. They have Time Travel but no post-retention recovery window, so they do not accrue Fail-safe storage charges. For workloads like staging or intermediate data that can be regenerated, using transient tables avoids the Fail-safe cost component while keeping short-term Time Travel available.
- ✗
Permanent tables in a database with a short retention default
Why it's wrong here
Database-level retention defaults affect Time Travel duration, not Fail-safe eligibility. A permanent table remains Fail-safe covered even if its Time Travel window is short. This option confuses retention configuration with table type, leading to an incorrect assumption that database defaults can exempt a permanent table from Fail-safe.
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.