clearing a PC hard drive

[Die Hard]

A 250 gig SATA takes about 3-4 hours to finish.. 

Then it's only compliant to US DoD 5520.22-M (8-306./E) or at best (8-306./E,C and E). That's 3 or 7 wipe passes; only suitable to prevent simple software based recovery methods. If you want to make sure (but not destroy the drive), use Eraser and do a 35-pass Gutmann wipe.

[Anodizer]

Then it's only compliant to US DoD 5520.22-M (8-306./E) or at best (8-306./E,C and E). That's 3 or 7 wipe passes; only suitable to prevent simple software based recovery methods. If you want to make sure (but not destroy the drive), use Eraser and do a 35-pass Gutmann wipe.

Dban will do as many passes as you wish..  However, the Autonuke command automatically wipes several times(for convenience sake)..  The average or advanced user won't give a rat's arse about what's left over if it's not easily accessible in the first place..  And not like everyone has a clean room in their homes..

The reason I discovered DBAN was because it was left in a pallet load of systems we received from the D.O.D.   

[coola4me]

If you just want to simply destroy all data on the drive and leave it unformatted then DBAN is for you...
http://www.dban.org/


DBAN is the industry standard..  The D.O.D. even uses it..  And it's free..  None of that 39.99 mumbo jumbo(probably works better too)..
Burn the ISO image to CD, boot from the CD, type autonuke, and you're good to go..  Depends on the size of the drive on how long it takes..
A 250 gig SATA takes about 3-4 hours to finish.. 

I work for the D.O.D. and we use bcpwipe produced by Jetico http://www.jetico.com/. DRMO also uses bcpwipe.

[ToeTag]

I generally just use the drive for toilet paper ( a dirty type of wipe) and then nobody touches it ....ever

[Shuffler]

Buchshot is a well know security measure too.