Could someone please clear up a question concerning this issue? Will using the DOS command "FORMAT C: /U" completely erase the hard drive? Registry files and all? I have people at my place of business telling me that the only thing to use to be 100% sure is a tedious LOW LEVEL format, ie. the disk utility WD CLEAR. I thought the /U switch was an UNCONDITIONAL format of a drive. And doesn't FDISKING a drive blow away the FAT TABLE? Especially if you change partition size? I'm having a hard time swallowing that a FORMAT C: /U doesn't erase everything. Hidden files and all. Any help out there?

A /q (or quick format) will write the ASCII character E5 to every file and directory entry on a partition, thus making it incredibly simple to recover. A /u will 0 out everything on the partition, thus wiping the files away. A low level format will 0 everything on the entire drive - partition tables and all. For newer drives a low level format is not applicable anymore as the drives use non-standard CHS numbers and some store info on the drive itself. So to answer your question, a format x: /u is sufficient to wipe away any data on the partition - including hidden/system files and the Registry and such. However if you're trying to hide data from the NSA, you have to format with all 0's, all 1's and random sequences of 1's and 0's numerous times. Even that probably doesn't work anymore as that is a dated method.

My guide to the FAT file system may be worth a read.

FORMAT /U Will clear ALL Entries from your Hard Drive. No need for Low Level Format. If you have no other problems. This will be all youneed to do. FORMAT by itself just 'hides' the entries!