What is the effect of Snowflake setting a load status in the table metadata for the data files referenced by a COPY statement?

• A. Snowflake stores the files for later processing.
• B. Snowflake sets a load status in the table metadata to prevent duplicates.
• C. Snowflake resets the load status after processing.
• D. Snowflake duplicates the data to ensure safety.

Answer: (B)

When Snowflake runs a COPY INTO to bring data from a stage into a table, it marks each source data file with a load status in the table’s metadata. This status indicates whether that file has been loaded (or if the load failed). The practical effect is to make the load operation idempotent: if you re-run the same COPY and the stage still contains the same files, Snowflake will see that those files already have a loaded status and skip them instead of re-ingesting the data. That’s how duplicates are prevented. This metadata-tracking also helps with retry scenarios, letting you load only the files that haven’t been processed yet.