DEA-C02 Storage and Data Protection Practice Question
A data engineer is managing a Snowflake account with Enterprise Edition. A permanent table named FINANCE_RECORDS has DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS set to 10. The engineer wants to reduce storage costs by lowering the retention period to 1 day. What is the effect of executing ALTER TABLE FINANCE_RECORDS SET DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS = 1?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that reducing retention immediately frees up storage and that existing historical data remains accessible for the original period.
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 change takes effect immediately, and any historical data older than 1 day becomes inaccessible and will be purged, but storage costs may not decrease immediately.
Reducing the Time Travel retention period immediately makes historical data beyond the new period inaccessible, and it will be purged. However, storage costs may not decrease immediately due to the time required for purging and because Fail-safe still applies for 7 days after the retention period. The change is allowed and takes effect for all data, not just new data.
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 change fails because retention periods can only be increased, not decreased, on a permanent table.
Why it's wrong here
Snowflake allows both increasing and decreasing the DATA_RETENTION_TIME_IN_DAYS parameter on permanent tables, as long as the value is within the allowed range (0 to 90 days for Enterprise Edition). The command will succeed. This option incorrectly states that decreasing is not allowed, which is false.
- ✓
The change takes effect immediately, and any historical data older than 1 day becomes inaccessible and will be purged, but storage costs may not decrease immediately.
Why this is correct
When you reduce the retention period, historical data older than the new period becomes inaccessible and is eventually purged. However, storage costs may not decrease immediately because the data must first be purged from storage, which can take time. Additionally, Fail-safe still applies for 7 days after the retention period, so storage costs for Fail-safe may persist. This is the correct behavior.
- ✗
The change takes effect immediately, and historical data beyond 1 day is purged, reducing storage costs.
Why it's wrong here
Changing the retention period does not immediately purge historical data. Snowflake retains existing historical versions until they age out of the new retention period. The change takes effect for new data and future modifications, but existing versions are not purged immediately. This option incorrectly assumes immediate purging, which could lead to data loss if true.
- ✗
The change takes effect immediately, but existing historical data remains accessible for the original 10-day period.
Why it's wrong here
After reducing the retention period, existing historical data becomes inaccessible once it exceeds the new retention period. For example, data that is 5 days old will no longer be accessible after the change to 1 day. This option incorrectly suggests that the original retention period continues to apply to existing data, which is not the case.
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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
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