A data engineer is attempting to drop a Spark SQL table my_table and runs the...

The reason why all of the data files and metadata files were deleted from the file system after dropping the table is that the table was managed. A managed table is a table that is created and managed by Spark SQL. It stores both the data and the metadata in the default location specified by the spark.sql.warehouse.dir configuration property. When a managed table is dropped, both the data and the metadata are deleted from the file system.

Option B is not correct, as the size of the table’s data does not affect the behavior of dropping the table. Whether the table’s data is smaller or larger than 10 GB, the data files and metadata files will be deleted if the table is managed, and will be preserved if the table is external.

Option C is not correct, for the same reason as option B.

Option D is not correct, as an external table is a table that is created and managed by the user. It stores the data in a user-specified location, and only stores the metadata in the Spark SQL catalog. When an external table is dropped, only the metadata is deleted from the catalog, but the data files are preserved in the file system.

Option E is not correct, as a table must have a location to store the data. If the location is not specified by the user, it will use the default location for managed tables. Therefore, a table without a location is a managed table, and dropping it will delete both the data and the metadata.