Disk Utility says disk can't be repaired but it is still working

Recently my MacBook Air had some performance problems--many programs crashing, etc. I ran Disk Utility and it came back saying the disk is corrupt and needs to be repaired. I rebooted and ran the Disk Utility repair function but Disk Utility said the volume could not be repaired and recommended that I back everything up, wipe the drive, and restore.
The thing is that my computer is now functioning normally. Disk Utility still says there's a huge and unrepairable problem, but aside from that, everything is working fine.
I have a time machine backup, so I could wipe and restore the drive fairly easily, but it would take some time to do it. I'm in the middle of some important things for work and so I'd rather put this off for a couple of weeks, if I can.
A few questions: (1) is there other software, aside from Disk Uility, that I should try to repair the disk? (2) How much of a ticking time-bomb do I have with this problem? Though reformatitng and restoring would be a hassle right now, it is less of a hassle than if my computer were to fail completely minutes before a presentation. So, if this is an urgent problem, then I'll probably address it now. But, if Apples have been known to soldier on for months despite error messages like what I've received, then I may take my chances and wait to reformat/restore until a more convenient time.
Any and all thoughts appreciated, thanks!

Thanks for these replies.
I've got regular time machine backups and just backed up some of my data by copying some key folders to an external drive. I'm bit paranoid about backup integrity and would ideally like to do another full backup to a different drive using a system other than time machine, in the event that something goes wrong with the time machine backup. Any recommendations on good and affordable backup software to do a backup of my TM backup?
One other question: I seem to encounter problems like this pretty frequently. I'd say once a year or so, my drive fails completely or gets near enough to failing that I have to wipe and restore. (I've never had a TM backup fail to work, though the last go around there were some hiccups which has led to my backup paranoia.) I've had this happen on multiple computers, so I'm becoming pretty convinced that the problem lies somewhere in my data. Is it possible (even likely) that there's something in my data causing this recurring problem? If so, is there anything I might be able to do to try and pinpoint and address this problem? I'd love to go one year without having to wipe/restore my machine!
For a while I thought I just had bad luck. But I think this is like the 4th or 5th time this has happened in the past 4 years and every time, I'm restoring from a backup, so I come back with the same data. It's the one constant since I've had 3 different machines over this same time period.

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My Mac Book Pro froze yesterday and I had to force restart it. It had been showing me messages that my hard drive disk was full for a while and I was in the middle of transferring files to my external hard drive and I accidentally put a huge large file from my external hard drive into the trash on my laptop which makes me wonder if that means I added more GB to a computer that was already very full. Anyway, after freezing I restarted it and the desktop wouldn't load properly. The desktop picture was there, but folders on desktop did not appear, finder bar was missing and the dock was acting super slow and nothing worked when clicked on. Then the next few attempts were around the same result and eventually became stuck on the apple logo, spinning gear and a progress bar that was not loading at all.
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That would be fine and dandy, but I have no idea how to back up my files and do all this. I have no idea how to exactly get the data off my hard drive. If someone does, please list a step by step guide for me on how to do so.
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The Hitachi, when clicked upon, shows the S.M.A.R.T. status as Verified and the Macintosh HD doesn't show much in details except for "Not mounted."
At one point, the Macintosh HD was in bold lettering and seemed to be mounted for a few minutes. When that happened, I was able to see the details reading: Mount Point: /Volumes/Macintosh HD, Capacity: 319.73 GB, Available: 11.92 GB, Used: 307.81 GB, etc.
I'm getting nervous to keep turning on and off the computer on force start and shut downs, especially since I have been reading up that the longer the computer is on, the more the hard drive is in use and the more chance for it to start deleting or overwriting my files. Is this true?
It's not mounted anymore since it was momentarily mounted. I just want to get my files off the disk and save them to my external hard drive. That is my main goal right now. What can I do?
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