DEA-C02 Storage and Data Protection Practice Question
A data engineer is managing a Snowflake account where a transient table named STG_ORDERS is created in a schema. The table holds intermediate ETL results. The engineer wants to ensure that if the table is accidentally dropped, it can be recovered within 24 hours without incurring Fail-safe storage costs. What should the engineer do?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that transient tables can use Fail-safe for recovery or that they support longer Time Travel retention than 1 day.
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
✓
Set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 1 on the transient table.
Transient tables support Time Travel up to 1 day and have no Fail-safe period, so setting DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 1 provides 24-hour recovery without Fail-safe costs. Permanent tables have a mandatory 7-day Fail-safe period, which would incur costs. Disabling Time Travel eliminates recovery, and cloning does not address recovery of the original table.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a zero-copy clone of the transient table and set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 1 on the clone.
Why it's wrong here
A zero-copy clone creates a separate table but does not provide a recovery mechanism for the original table if it is dropped. The clone would not help recover the original table within 24 hours, and it adds unnecessary complexity. This does not satisfy the requirement.
- ✗
Set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 0 on the transient table and rely on Fail-safe for recovery.
Why it's wrong here
Setting retention to 0 disables Time Travel for the transient table, and transient tables do not have Fail-safe. Thus, no recovery would be possible. This fails the requirement to recover within 24 hours and would not provide any recovery mechanism.
- ✗
Convert the table to a permanent table and set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 1.
Why it's wrong here
Converting to a permanent table introduces a 7-day Fail-safe period after the Time Travel retention expires. This would incur additional storage costs for Fail-safe, which contradicts the requirement to avoid Fail-safe storage costs. Therefore, this option is not suitable.
- ✓
Set DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 1 on the transient table.
Why this is correct
Transient tables support Time Travel with a maximum retention of 1 day. Setting DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS to 1 enables recovery within 24 hours and, because transient tables have no Fail-safe period, no additional storage costs are incurred after the retention period expires. This directly meets the requirement.
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.