Currently I see 2 parameters reaching design limits, namely Reallocated Sector Count as well as Spin Retry Count from the SMART data. The computer boots once out of 10 attempts and I have seen BSODs and GRUB rescue messages too.
My problem is that I see both way over the threshold! What can I do about this? Is it safe to back up my HDD or will that further aggravate the problem by increasing the number of read operations?
SMART screenshot:
The threshold works the other way around: It’s gone bad when Current < Threshold. That’s why it’s only a warning in your case.
Although that many spin retries clearly aren’t normal, so do backup your data. :)
The question whether it's safe to backup your data is the wrong one. If your disk is going bad (or you think it is), backing up your data should be your first concern. Don't try repairs yet, back up first. Instead of repeating myself, I point to my answer here.
