Imminent Disk Failure

[Messyhair42]

Today I found a notice saying Hard Disk Failure Imminent. SMART data shows warnings under the reallocated sector count and current pending sector count.
the disk in question is my backup drive, a 1TB WD caviar blue, and I installed it less than a year ago. how reliable is the SMART diagnostic and is it enough to get my HD replaced through WD? I've already checked the serial number and it's warrantied, what can i expect the drive to do the next time I mount it/how short a time could it function?

[....]

Whether the sectors are actually bad or the disk just thinks they're bad doesn't matter. Your drive is due for RMA if SMART is giving you that warning.

[Grenage]

how reliable is the SMART diagnostic

Quite reliable. Some issues it can flag won't usually affect the drive too much, but in cases such as yours, you should probably take it as gospel.

and is it enough to get my HD replaced through WD? I've already checked the serial number and it's warrantied, what can i expect the drive to do the next time I mount it/how short a time could it function?

Get it replaced under warranty; the errors will only increase, and you can no longer consider the drive reliable. It will probably last long enough for you to get your data off.

Note use of words like probably, should and usually - it's impossible to predict what will happen when it comes to mechanical hard drives.

[degarb]

I am starting to get these. I ran Sprinrite, recovered some stuff. Not sure of long term benefit of Spinrite. Ideally, bad areas should be noted, and "roped off" by the OS to never be used.

I would think setting up ubuntu to run fsck on reboot each time might help.
Someone smart proposed a check box on shut down for chdk.

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I don't really need to worry about lost data, since everything the compter writes is in the cloud or over network. Just many hours/days/weeks trying to decipher ubuntu command line to get things working like I want.

Naturally, I want to hold off on any laptop upgrade ( I may have an 80 gig working laptop hd from another broken laptop that I found after some university students moved out.) Or I could run off usb jump drive, maybe.