What does zero-copy cloning do for a table?

• A. Duplicates data physically and uses extra storage
• B. Duplicates metadata only and does not duplicate data
• C. Creates a complete physical copy in a new database
• D. Requires additional storage equal to original

Answer: (B)

Zero-copy cloning works by sharing the same underlying data blocks between the original and the clone. When you create the clone, Snowflake stores new metadata and pointers for the clone, but no actual data is copied. If you or others modify data in either table, Snowflake uses copy-on-write to duplicate only the affected data blocks, keeping the rest shared. So the clone is essentially a metadata and pointer copy at creation, with no immediate data duplication, which is why the best description is that it duplicates metadata only and does not duplicate data.