[e_castillo]

I would assume he only wants to erase all the data “thoroughly” but he just doesn't say it. A format or deletion of the partition will not prevent someone from reading the old contents of that hard drive.

Newer versions of windows format do allow multi pass/write zero formats. You need to know the command line switches.

Diskwipe does need a bootable usb drive which would allow exclusive access to the hard drive partion but the PC must have the USB boot capability enabled in the BIOS. Does he have a bootable partition installed on a USB device?

[dhs12345]

Cool. Thanks. I'll remember it if I never want to wipe a disk.

Most modern pcs allow booting from a USB device.

Wonder if you can boot and run Diskwipe from the primary disk and then wipe the secondary disk. That would be easier. Just be careful to choose the right disk when you do it. :)