S.M.A.R.T. failed on main internal drive, is my disk dying?

Question

Hi,
Wanted to repair permissions before updating to 10.6.8 only to find a red message saying my main internal disk is damaged beyond repair, s.m.a.r.t checkup has failed.
I was able to repair damages on the HD with disk utility but not the media drive.
My iMac works fine, no slow-ups, no bugs, no freezes, nothing, only the message saying my disk is damaged.
I have an iMac i7 2.8 GHz (late 2009) with 1To media drive with a HD with 99,86 Go running 10.6.8. (I was able to update), 4 Go 1067 mHz DDR3 Ram.
I consider my iMac like new, still have 629 Go available disk space.
Should I ignore this message since every thing seems in working order or I am looking for trouble?
Thank's

Answer 1

I would say to replace the HD. You can run additional tests in Apple Hardware Test to verify and also download and SMART Utility at:
http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php
BTW If the machine is covered by AppleCare then this will certainly be covered.
Of course make sure the system has at least one viable backup using either Time Machine or a bootable clone using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner or preferable both TM & the clone.
Roger