SMART Notifier will alert you when your hard drive may be failing.

Tested on Ubuntu Desktop: 8.04, 8.10, 9.04
Tested on Ubuntu Server: 8.04, 8.10, 9.04

Install the tools:

sudo apt-get install smartmontools smart-notifier

After install you can get detailed drive information at the command line as follows (substitute your proper device):

sudo smartctl -i /dev/sda

Smart-Notifier

SMART-Notifier provides a system service that monitors the S.M.A.R.T. messages and will attempt to report drive errors to the user.

To turn on the notifier, After doing the install steps (above):

• Go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions
• Scroll down to Smart Notifier and check it, then Close.
• To activate it without a restart, go to System -> Preferences -> Services,
• Click on Unlock,
• Put in your sudo password,
• scroll down to “Hardware monitor (smartnotifier)” and check it
• Close and your good to go.