Which method is suitable for a company needing to analyze huge datasets on Amazon S3 efficiently?

The method of using AWS Glue for ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) to convert data into a columnar format is particularly beneficial for analyzing large datasets stored in Amazon S3. Columnar storage formats, such as Parquet or ORC, are optimized for analytical queries. These formats allow for more efficient data compression and significantly reduce the amount of data that needs to be scanned during queries.

When data is stored in a columnar format, query engines like Amazon Athena or Amazon Redshift Spectrum can execute queries faster, as they only need to read the columns necessary for the query rather than the entire dataset. This can lead to substantial performance improvements and cost savings, especially when analyzing substantial amounts of data, as the amount of data scanned directly impacts costs in services like Athena.

Moreover, AWS Glue facilitates the transformation of raw data into this optimized format through its serverless ETL capabilities, which can handle large-scale data processing without the overhead of managing infrastructure. Thus, converting data into a columnar format through AWS Glue is essential for achieving efficient and effective analysis of large datasets on Amazon S3.