A Data Engineer is using Time Travel to clone a table using this query: CREATE TABLE MY_TABLE_CLONE CLONE MY_TABLE AT (OFFSET => -60*30); An error is returned. What could be causing the error?…

Question

Options

• AThe source object is an external table.
• BThe object has exceeded the maximum cloning limit.
• CTime Travel and cloning features cannot be run together.
• DThe object cannot be cloned because it has a row access policy attached to it.
• EThe source object did not exist at the time specified in the AT | BEFORE parameter.

• A
  74% (35)
• B
  6% (3)
• C
  15% (7)
• D
  4% (2)

Explanation

Options A and E are correct because Snowflake explicitly does not support cloning external tables - they reference data stored outside Snowflake, so there is no internal snapshot to clone - and if the source table did not yet exist at the specified offset (e.g., the table was created less than 30 minutes ago), Snowflake has no historical state to clone from and will throw an error.

B is wrong because Snowflake has no "maximum cloning limit" concept that would trigger this error. C is wrong because Time Travel and cloning are designed to work together - the AT (OFFSET => ...) syntax is precisely how you clone a table at a past point in time. D is wrong because row access policies do not block cloning; the clone simply inherits the policy from the source.

Memory tip: Think "CLONE needs a real, reachable snapshot" - if the source never existed internally (external table = A) or didn't exist yet at that timestamp (E), there's nothing for Snowflake to clone. The other options describe restrictions that simply don't exist in Snowflake's feature set.

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