Mailing the story:

Linux, Unix, BSD, and Cywgin-on-Windows users can use the excellent smartmontools package, which includes the smartctl and smartd commands, for monitoring and controlling PATA, SATA, and SCSI hard disks. smartmontools works on drives that have the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) system built into them. With smartmontools, you can test drive health and set it up to monitor drives so early warnings of possible drive failures are issued.