I have a two year old Toshiba Laptop that is mainly used for internet/iTunes/Pictures/etc. and not much else. It has Windows 7.
Two nights ago, I got a warning saying that the Hard Drive is damaged, to please back it up, and replace or repair it.
What the hell is this? Why the hell is this happening when this computer is mostly used for the internet?? Is the hard drive actually damaged or has Windows gone retarded on me?
I bought this thing at Best Buy and got the BS two year warranty. I think the factory warranty was only a year.
Newer systems have a way to detect hard drive damage or other issues. If it says there is damage, then there may be damage.
I would back it up (just make copies of any files or bookmarks you care about to a USB drive.
Then run a full hard drive scan for any issues by right clicking on the drive in Explorer and choose properties and then advanced.
There may also be diagnostics available in the BIOS of the system, might also be worth searching Google with the error message and the model of laptop to see if this is a common issue (there was a batch of bad IBM hard drives a while back that caused all sorts of issues)
What gave you the error? turboswede's right, I just want to make sure it wasn't some flashing website banner your're getting your diagnostics from 
No, it was definitely a Windows error. It took me right to backup and said to shut the computer down and replace the hard drive.
S.M.A.R.T. is working for you there. I'd back up the drive, and do a thorough diagnostic on it. UBCD or similar is good for having all of the utilities right on one bootable CD. Back it up BEFORE testing, as I've had a couple die on my while being tested.
Two year old hard drive in a lap top? Not hard for me to believe it's going bad. Back up your data.
It's telling you exactly the right thing to do, through SMART disk status checking. Hard drives hate us all:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/dont-trust-hard-drives-example-6548/71747/page1/
So then my next question is, should I contact the manufacturer about a new hard drive? I really would hate to lose windows 7.
Do you have a backup disk? If not, a new disk is $15 or so, just reuse your existing license.
In reply to neon4891:
No, laptop didn't come with one from Toshiba.
