Professional Data EngineerBuilding and operationalizing data processing systemsEasy
A global e-commerce company needs to store petabytes of historical transaction data for audit and compliance purposes. This data is accessed very rarely, perhaps once a year, but must be retained for at least 10 years. Cost optimization for storage is a primary concern. Which Cloud Storage class should they choose?
- ANearline
- BStandard
- CArchive
- DColdline
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Archive
Archive storage class is designed for long-term data archiving with very infrequent access, offering the lowest storage cost but higher retrieval costs and latency, making it ideal for compliance data accessed once a year.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Nearline storage is for data accessed less than once a month, which is still too frequent for this scenario's cost optimization goal.
- B. Standard storage is for frequently accessed data and would be too expensive for rarely accessed archives.
- D. Coldline storage is for data accessed less than once a quarter, which is also not optimal for yearly access and extreme cost sensitivity.
Cloud Storage Archive Class
The lowest-cost Cloud Storage class designed for long-term data archiving with access frequencies of less than once per year.
- Lowest storage cost
- Highest retrieval cost and access latency
- Ideal for regulatory compliance, disaster recovery, and deep archives
Memory trick: Standard is quick, Nearline is less, Coldline's cool, Archive's best for rest.