Snowflake Certification Practice Test

What best describes Zero-Copy Cloning?

1. Only copies metadata during cloning

2. Data is unmodified and stored multiple times

3. Unmodified data is stored once; modified data is new blocks

4. It creates a duplicate of all data

The correct answer is: Unmodified data is stored once; modified data is new blocks

Zero-Copy Cloning is an innovative feature in data management that allows for efficient duplication of data without physically storing multiple copies. The essence of Zero-Copy Cloning lies in the fact that it stores unmodified data only once. When a clone is created, it initially refers to the original data blocks. If changes are made to the cloned dataset, the new data is created and stored as separate blocks, while the original data remains unchanged. This approach optimizes storage efficiency as it avoids redundancy by ensuring that unmodified data is not duplicated. Instead, the system only manages references to the existing data blocks, and any new modifications or entries are handled in such a way that they don’t disrupt the original dataset. This mechanism is beneficial because it allows for quick and space-efficient creation of clones, making it particularly useful for scenarios involving development, testing, or data analytics where multiple environments may be needed but without excessive resource consumption.