EC2 storage comes in two flavors, and the exam tests the crucial difference: whether the data survives when the instance stops.
Ephemeral vs persistent
Instance store is physically attached local disk — very fast, but ephemeral: data is lost when the instance stops or terminates. EBS is network-attached and persistent: data survives stop/start and can be detached and reattached. Need data to persist? EBS. Need fast temporary scratch space? Instance store.
Test yourself
An application needs its data to persist even after the EC2 instance is stopped and started again. Which storage should hold that data?
- Instance store
- Amazon EBS
- EC2 RAM
- A placement group
👉 Click to reveal the answer & explanation
Correct answer: B. EBS is persistent network-attached storage that survives stop/start. Instance store (A) is ephemeral and lost on stop; RAM (C) is volatile; a placement group (D) controls instance placement, not storage persistence.
Related topics
Amazon EC2 · EBS Volume Types · EBS Snapshots
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