Ubuntu :: Warning - Hard Drive Failure Is Imminent ?

I was testing out Ubuntu 10.04 on both the a desktop and a laptop (both HP...I don't remember the particular models but if asked I will find out). It worked fine on the desktop. When I booted the laptop with Ubuntu it worked fine. When I tried to connect it to the internet it seemed to go okay. I mean it asked for the network password and everything. But as soon as the signal was recognized I got a warning that said "Hard drive failure is imminent."

Now this laptop has gone through problems before. I don't know the extents because it's a family laptop and I rarely use it (it's super slow. It used to run Vista but now it runs XP and it's slow regardless). I think the hard drive may have been replaced at one point of another and it has had to be re installed numerous times before. And the way it is used leads me to believe that there is not a lot of space left in that hard drive. So that may have been the issue.

But I want to make sure it is a hardware problem and not something that will happen on the device I eventually decide to install Ubuntu on. How to understand why the hard drive would fail when the live CD doesn't actively use the hard drive, at least not the way it would if it had been installed in the hard drive.