How do I completely erase everything on my hd?

[Hoof]

I have 250 wd hd that ive reformatted a couple of times now using the windows xp installation cd. No matter how many times I reformat there is still about 100 gbs that are not being erased. Also I have a partition of 20 gbs that I also want to erase. Why is this so hard and how can I delete EVERYTHING so that I have the whole 250 gbs free (or 230 w/e the actual size is) and is as if I just bought the hd?

 

[setscrew]

Try using D.B.and N. as it should wipe most disks completly clean.

With regard to the partition, drop in the XP disk and select the partition in question to delete it; then use DBAN.

Good luck.

 

[Hoof]

Ok thanks ill try that, I just dont know why windows makes it so hard to delete everything and just start from new

 

[Randall Fox]

Also try Kill Disk ..