> 1. Delete all the files. (E.g., delete C:\*.*)

I wonder if you actually asked many non-geeks, what they would say if you 
asked them how they would go about erasing all their data from their 
computer?  I guess if you try to select-all and delete the contents of drive 
C from within windows it's going to get stuck at some point.

> Option #2 destroys some of the filesystem metadata, but AFAIK the blocks 
> holding file data will still be intact.

Oh, I thought that "format" really went over every byte of the partition and 
wrote to it?  IIRC there is a "quick format" option, which I assumed just 
did the headers and stuff to make it look like it was formatted.

> I am unsure as to whether #4 and #5 are different in any way. Both seem to 
> take the same amount of time...

I think that writing zeros to the disk would make it easier to recover the 
data, but that's just a guess.

> As far as I can tell, option #7 gives 100% guaranteed data destruction. 
> But I don't have any star-drive screwdrivers. :-P [Or heated acid - unless 
> you count my stomach. And I am *not* putting shards of shattered glass in 
> there!]

Just chuck it on a hot fire.  Saw it in half first if you want things to go 
quicker.

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