Disk Utility stopped repairing Mac HD - Now what?

My computer has been running slow so I cleaned up my desktop, trashed a bunch of old files and went to verify permissions. I was then told to use disk repair.
In the middle of doing so I got this message - "Disk Utility stopped repairing 'Macintosh HD'. Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Besides occasional slowness, my computer is working fine and I was able to get back to my desktop. Is this slow down issue going to get progressively worse if I don't reformat the disk? Should I do what the message says? If so, how? I've never reformatted before...it sounds a little scary.
I back up about once a week (just did so this morning) so I should be good to go there. I have AppleCare. Is this something I should bring the computer in for or can I fix this issue on my own?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Do as instructed. Get your self a backup drive if you don't have one. Backup your files. Then erase your OS X volume and reinstall Mountain Lion.
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
  1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
  2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
  3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
  4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

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  • Disk utility stopped verifying; need repair... over and over and over

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    That article does not pertain to the OS you are running. "This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple."
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  • HT1782 My usb pendrive was 16gb , but when i erased it through disk utility , its total space is now showing just 2 gb . What can i do to restore the remaining space

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    ... clipped ...
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       0: FDisk_partition_scheme                    *3.8 GB   disk2
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    /dev/disk1s16            569927296 135962488 433452808    24%    /
    devfs                          225       225         0   100%    /dev
    fdesc                            2         2         0   100%    /dev
    <volfs>                       1024      1024         0   100%    /.vol
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    Robert

  • Disk Utility stopped verifying "Macintosh HD"

    I verify my disk and disk permissions every month or so, when I tried to verify the disk today I received the following message -
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    *** these numbers chang each time I attempt to verify.

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    Boot to the Recovery HD:
    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

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