Professional Data EngineerBuilding and operationalizing data processing systemsEasy
A global e-commerce company needs to store petabytes of historical transaction data for auditing and compliance purposes. This data is accessed very infrequently, perhaps once or twice a year, but must be retained for at least 10 years. The company prioritizes minimizing storage costs while ensuring data durability and availability when needed. Which Google Cloud Storage class should be used for this data?
- AColdline storage
- BNearline storage
- CArchive storage
- DStandard storage
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Archive storage
Archive storage is designed for long-term data archival, offering the lowest storage costs and highest durability, ideal for data accessed very infrequently with long retention periods.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Coldline storage is for data accessed less than once a quarter, which is still too frequent for this use case.
- B. Nearline storage is for data accessed less than once a month, which is too frequent for this use case.
- D. Standard storage is for frequently accessed data and has higher costs.
Cloud Storage Archive Class
Google Cloud Storage Archive class is a highly durable, low-cost storage class for data accessed less than once a year, ideal for long-term archives and disaster recovery.
- Lowest storage cost among GCS classes.
- High durability (99.999999999% annual durability).
- Higher retrieval costs and latency compared to other classes.
- Minimum storage duration of 365 days.
Memory trick: Standard is for speed, Nearline is for a month's need, Coldline for a quarter's creed, Archive for eternity's deed.