NAS specialist QNAP has launched a drive failure prediction tool, in partnership with ULINK Technology, that uses cloud-based AI to protect against server downtime and data loss caused by hard drive failures. The announcement came via a QNAP press release.
The AI makes use of the reams of statistics generated by millions of drives reporting their status. The data is used to make predictions about whether particular discs are likely to fail, allowing them to be replaced before the worst happens. It should be able to predict drive failures that would be missed by the usual SMART tools, and comes with a friendly and intuitive interface. At the present time all QNAP NAS with QTS 5.0 / QuTS hero h5.0 (or later) are supported. NVMe and SAS drives are currently not supported. SATA drives support (HDD and SSD drive list) is determined by firmware compatibility.
“QNAP is acutely aware that potential server down time is a critical concern for QNAP NAS users and sudden drive failure is one of its primary causes. We are honored to have the chance to partner with ULINK to develop the DA Drive Analyzer to help users, especially IT staff who must manage large numbers of NAS devices. We envision that the DA Drive Analyzer will be a great assist to users looking to build advanced disaster recovery plans,” said Tim Lin, product manager of QNAP.
A free trial of the DA Drive Analyzer is available until March 2022, after which it requires an annual subscription that scales with the number of drives you’re running.
