8 Ways to Permanently Delete Data Without Leaving ANY Trace
Friedbeef's Tech —
... Darik’s Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. ...
How to Permanently Delete Data from Your Hard Drive
ReadWriteWeb —
... Another free open source program that runs on Windows, Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) wipes the entire contents of every hard drive it finds on your machine when you run it, so be very careful. ...
A Violent Virus Cure
AppScout —
... A: It's never reasonable to throw out the drive because of a virus infestation. If you're frustrated enough to wipe everything and start fresh, you can do it without any special hardware. A product like the free DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke) will overwrite the entire disk multiple times, wiping out all data to military standards. You create a diskette or CD of DBAN on a clean system and boot the to-be-wiped system from it. It then thoroughly wipes the drive's data. ...
When Disaster Strikes
Zatz Not Funny! —
... the drive on the ground while keeping it perfectly level/horizontal, I’ve been to get it moving again. Long enough to get most data off. If your drive is already dead and you don’t have a resource available to recover data, it may not hurt to try. Another option, perhaps as much myth as reality, is to put the offending drive in the freezer for a time and see if it also buys you a few minutes to pull the meaningful bits off.
Another pair of utilities I keep handy are Darik’s Boot & Nuke and Heidi Eraser. Not specific or limited to disaster ...

