What is Zero copy cloning in Snowflake?

In this blog, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of Zero Copy Cloning in Snowflake.

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What is Zero copy cloning in Snowflake?

Clone objects in Snowflake

What is Zero copy cloning in Snowflake?

Zero copy cloning in Snowflake is a feature that allows you to create an exact copy of a database, table, or schema without incurring any additional storage costs.

This is because the cloned object shares the underlying storage with the original object.

When you create a zero copy clone, Snowflake creates new metadata entries that point to the micro-partitions of the original source object. This means that the cloned object does not contain any physical data of its own.

Zero copy cloning is a very fast and efficient way to create copies of your data. It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as:

• Creating backups
• Creating development and testing environments
• Creating sandboxes for data analysis and experimentation
• Creating clones for data sharing and collaboration

To create a zero copy clone in Snowflake, you can use the following SQL statement:

CREATE <object_type> <object_name>
CLONE <source_object_name>

Clone objects in Snowflake

Lets understand with an example:

Add a new SQL Worksheet and execute the following SQL statement to clone the database.

Clone Database

Create database DEVDB_Clone 
Clone DEVDB;

Here, DEVDB_Clone is the cloned database name, and DEVDB is the original database name, as shown in the image below.

Now, as you can see in the screenshot below, a new cloned database has been created with all schemas, tables, and file formats.

Note: Internal named stages cannot be cloned.

Clone Schema

Use Database DEVDB;
Create schema Public_Clone 
Clone Public;

Cloning Historical Objects with Time Travel

Understand how to use cloning with Time Travel in snowflake

Thank you for reading this post, and I hope you enjoyed it!