<s>
Predictive	B-Device
Failure	I-Device
Analysis	I-Device
(	O
PFA	O
)	O
refers	O
to	O
methods	O
intended	O
to	O
predict	O
imminent	O
failure	O
of	O
systems	O
or	O
components	O
(	O
software	O
or	O
hardware	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
potentially	O
enable	O
mechanisms	O
to	O
avoid	O
or	O
counteract	O
failure	O
issues	O
,	O
or	O
recommend	O
maintenance	O
of	O
systems	O
prior	O
to	O
failure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Predictive	B-Device
Failure	I-Device
Analysis	I-Device
was	O
originally	O
used	O
as	O
term	O
for	O
a	O
proprietary	O
IBM	O
technology	O
for	O
monitoring	O
the	O
likelihood	O
of	O
hard	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drives	I-Device
to	O
fail	O
,	O
although	O
the	O
term	O
is	O
now	O
used	O
generically	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
technologies	O
for	O
judging	O
the	O
imminent	O
failure	O
of	O
CPU	O
's	O
,	O
memory	O
and	O
I/O	O
devices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
drive	O
firmware	B-Application
compares	O
the	O
measured	O
parameters	O
against	O
predefined	O
thresholds	O
and	O
evaluates	O
the	O
health	O
status	O
of	O
the	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
High	O
counts	O
of	O
corrected	O
RAM	O
intermittent	O
errors	O
by	O
ECC	B-General_Concept
can	O
be	O
predictive	O
of	O
future	O
DIMM	B-General_Concept
failures	O
and	O
so	O
automatic	O
offlining	O
for	O
memory	O
and	O
CPU	O
caches	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
avoid	O
future	O
errors	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
under	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
the	O
mcelog	O
daemon	B-Operating_System
will	O
automatically	O
remove	O
from	O
usage	O
memory	O
pages	O
showing	O
excessive	O
corrections	O
,	O
and	O
will	O
remove	O
from	O
usage	O
processor	O
cores	O
showing	O
excessive	O
cache	O
correctable	O
memory	O
errors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
optical	B-Device
media	I-Device
(	O
CD	B-Device
,	O
DVD	O
and	O
Blu-ray	O
)	O
,	O
failures	O
caused	O
by	O
degradation	B-Device
of	I-Device
media	I-Device
can	O
be	O
predicted	O
and	O
media	O
of	O
low	O
manufacturing	O
quality	O
can	O
be	O
detected	O
prior	O
to	O
data	O
loss	O
occurring	O
by	O
measuring	O
the	O
rate	O
of	O
correctable	B-Error_Name
data	I-Error_Name
errors	I-Error_Name
using	O
software	O
such	O
as	O
QpxTool	O
or	O
Nero	O
DiscSpeed	O
.	O
</s>
