A technician is called to investigate an issue with a client's workstation that is experiencing slow boot times and frequent system hang-ups. Upon inspection, the technician notices that during the system's startup sequence, a message briefly appears stating 'S.M.A.R.T. status bad, backup and replace'. Based on this message, what should the technician advise the client to do immediately to protect the client's data?
Suggest defragmenting the disk to resolve the slow boot times and prevent system hang-ups.
Advise to optimize the operating system to improve boot times and system performance.
Advise the client to immediately back up their data and prepare to replace the hard drive.
Recommend keeping using the disk as normal since S.M.A.R.T. warnings are often overly cautious.