dban+info

DBAN aka Darik's Boot and Nuke http://dban.sourceforge.net/

this is a free open-source utility for wiping a hard drive in such a way that the data is virtually impossible to recover

This is a somewhat dangerous program if someone accidentally uses it in a computer they do not want to wipe. If you burn a DBAN cd make sure to label it clearly, for example you could write in the cd "this disk destroys all data" or something similar.

possible uses: There are a number of reasons you might want to securely wipe a hard drive. One scenario is if you were sending off a very old computer to the warehouse that was used in a school office. Depending on how the machine was used it may house student information, payroll information, etc. If the machine was sold at auction or sold for scrap and the drive was not securely wiped it may be possible for someone buying that computer to recover data off the drive fairly easily, even if the hard drive has been formatted.

usage:


 * 1) download the cd version (this will be a .iso file)
 * 2) burn to cd, virtually any cd authoring program can do this
 * 3) boot the computer off the cd, it will automatically load the program, select the drive you want to wipe