DEA-C02 Storage and Data Protection Practice Question
A data engineer is managing a Snowflake account with multiple databases. The engineer wants to ensure that critical data can be recovered in the event of accidental deletion or modification. The engineer is considering using Time Travel and Fail-safe. Which TWO statements accurately describe the capabilities and limitations of Fail-safe? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that Fail-safe is user-accessible or can be disabled, when in fact it is a support-only, mandatory feature for permanent tables.
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
✓
Fail-safe provides a 7-day period after Time Travel expires during which Snowflake Support can recover data.
Fail-safe is a mandatory 7-day period for permanent tables that begins after Time Travel retention expires. It allows only Snowflake Support to recover data, and it cannot be disabled or queried by users. Transient and temporary tables do not have Fail-safe. Storage costs are incurred for Fail-safe data, which is no longer accessible via Time Travel. These two statements accurately describe Fail-safe's capabilities and limitations.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Users can query data in Fail-safe using the AT or BEFORE clauses, similar to Time Travel.
Why it's wrong here
Fail-safe data is not accessible to users via SQL. It can only be recovered by Snowflake Support. The AT and BEFORE clauses are used for Time Travel, which is user-accessible. Fail-safe is a last-resort recovery mechanism and does not allow direct queries. This statement incorrectly suggests that Fail-safe data can be queried like Time Travel data, which is not the case.
- ✗
Fail-safe applies to transient tables, providing an additional layer of protection after Time Travel.
Why it's wrong here
Transient tables do not have Fail-safe. They only support Time Travel with a maximum retention of 1 day. Once the Time Travel period ends, transient table data is purged and cannot be recovered. Fail-safe is only for permanent tables. This statement is incorrect because it assigns Fail-safe to transient tables, which is not supported.
- ✗
Fail-safe can be disabled at the account level to reduce storage costs.
Why it's wrong here
Fail-safe is a mandatory feature for permanent tables in Snowflake and cannot be disabled. It provides a safety net for disaster recovery. Storage costs for Fail-safe are incurred after the Time Travel period and are not separately configurable. Users cannot turn off Fail-safe. This statement is incorrect because Fail-safe is always enabled for permanent tables and cannot be disabled by users.
- ✓
Fail-safe provides a 7-day period after Time Travel expires during which Snowflake Support can recover data.
Why this is correct
Fail-safe is a Snowflake feature that provides a 7-day window after the Time Travel retention period ends. During this period, data can only be recovered by Snowflake Support. It is not user-accessible via SQL. This applies to permanent tables that have Time Travel enabled. Transient and temporary tables do not have Fail-safe. This statement correctly describes the duration and access method for Fail-safe recovery.
- ✓
Fail-safe storage costs are incurred for data that is no longer accessible via Time Travel.
Why this is correct
After the Time Travel retention period expires, data for permanent tables enters Fail-safe for 7 days. During this period, storage costs continue to be incurred for that data. These costs are separate from Time Travel storage. The data is not accessible to users but is retained for potential recovery by Snowflake Support. This statement correctly identifies that Fail-safe storage incurs costs after Time Travel ends.
About these practice questions
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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
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.