I do hate to show my age
, but years ago, Norton had a Security Erase program on their (excuse the term) floppy that would securely erase, overwrite and erase again a file or another floppy, to make sure there wasn't anything readable on the disk. I didn't have any use for it back then but I want to erase an old Hard Drive before I dispose of it. Formatting the drive just doesn't remove any data securely enough. If Norton doesn't offer it any more, is there a product out there that someone is familiar with and would give that product a recommendation?
You could also try the hard drive manufacturer's site for a utility program.
Hi PC_confused
A pair of goggles a hammer and some nails, drive the nails through the hard drive and even if someone removes the disc the stylus can’t track over the damage.
Norton utilities 15 have a shred your files, which permanently destroys files.
Check out Killdisk.
ATB
intesec
I use "Darik's Boot And Nuke" (DBAN).
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/?source=recommended
Be carefull if your unsure of how it works and to be safe have ONLY the drive attached you want to nuke.
Dave
Peterweb thanks for your suggestion. I went to the MFG's site and they offered two programs. One was a quick erase, not very secure, and the other was a zero write program that was supposly very secure. I can now throw that hard drive away. Of course intesec's suggestion would work also.. Thanks for all the replys..
Why not combune intesec's solution with mine? Get out your frustrations 
Glad I could help.