The Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) Data Protection Level is a critical setting that defines the system's data durability strategy. This setting directly specifies the total number of identical copies (replicas) of each object that the system must create and maintain. These copies are distributed across different physical nodes within the HCP cluster. By storing multiple copies, HCP ensures high availability and protects data against node or disk failures. If one copy becomes unavailable, the system can serve requests from another available replica, ensuring uninterrupted data access and integrity.

A. Object metadata is protected separately and automatically by the HCP system's internal mechanisms, not by the user-configurable Data Protection Level setting, which applies to the object data itself.

B. RAID is a hardware-level protection for disks within a single storage node. The Data Protection Level is a system-level policy for object metadata, which is managed independently.

C. The Data Protection Level is a system-wide, object-level replication policy. It is distinct from and operates above the RAID configuration used for local disk protection on individual nodes.

1. Hitachi Content Platform v9.4 System Administration Guide (MK-94HCP002-11), Page 31, Section: "About data protection".

The document states: "HCP protects objects by storing multiple copies of them on different nodes... The number of object copies that HCP is required to store is called the data protection level." This directly supports answer D.

2. Hitachi Content Platform v9.4 Concepts and Planning Guide (MK-94HCP001-11), Page 17, Section: "Data protection".

This guide explains: "To protect objects against the failure of a single hardware component, HCP stores multiple copies of each object. The number of copies is determined by the data protection level of the system." This confirms that the setting controls the number of object copies.