Why data sharing eliminates data copies in Snowflake - The Real Reasons

The Big Idea

What if you could share data without making endless copies that slow you down?

The Scenario

Imagine you have a big box of photos that you want to share with your friends. You make copies of the photos and send them to each friend separately. Now, every time you add a new photo or fix one, you have to make new copies and send them all over again.

The Problem

This copying process is slow and confusing. It wastes space because you have many copies of the same photos. Also, if you forget to update one copy, your friends might see old or wrong photos. Managing all these copies becomes a big headache.

The Solution

Data sharing lets you give your friends a direct link to your original photo box instead of sending copies. Everyone sees the same up-to-date photos without extra copies. This saves space, time, and keeps everything simple and accurate.

Before vs After

✗ Before

COPY INTO @friend1_stage FROM data;
COPY INTO @friend2_stage FROM data;

✓ After

CREATE SHARE friend1_share;
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE your_database TO SHARE friend1_share;
CREATE SHARE friend2_share;
GRANT USAGE ON DATABASE your_database TO SHARE friend2_share;

What It Enables

It makes sharing fast, efficient, and always current without wasting storage or effort.

Real Life Example

A company shares live sales data with partners instantly without sending multiple files, so everyone works with the latest numbers.

Key Takeaways

Manual copying wastes time and space.

Data sharing provides direct access to original data.

It keeps data consistent and easy to manage.