DBAN- General questions!!

I'm planning on using DBAN to wipe two Operating systems which I have installed on one computer, (Windows ME and Windows XP proff). I've got a few questions though! :)

1. I was slightly concerned by something a read in a DBAN FAQ recently. The question was: does DBAN work, the answer to the question was not always, it depends if the person that's trying to recover your sensitive data has a lot of time and money? When they say this, how much time and money do they mean? I'm sure know one would spend any more than £10,000 and a few months on recovering my data. But if it was only a matter of spending £100 and a week.... well that's a different matter! :? Could someone tell me whether a deafault wipe ( 9 passes) using this program would stop a £10,000/a few months data recoverer from finding even snippets of the data?

2. I heard that once the wipe is done and you reinstall your OS that some of the harddrives names are changed ( :C: and D). Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening?

3. I've also heard that DBAN will sometimes reduce the size of some of your harddrives, once again how do I prevent this?

4. I'm planning on using the default wipe, firstly is that secure enough and secondly how long will it take to completely wipe a 40 gig operating system?

5. When the wiping has finished will the screen just go blank? Will I have to reboot and then install a fresh copy of the operating system? Also if I do have to reboot my PC how will I do it, if the screen is completely blank then I won't be able to go to start-shutdown- restart will I?

6. Finally: how do you get DBAN to wipe all the file names of everything stored on the OS?

I'd be hugely grateful for any replies, I've not done this before so am a little nervous, I just want to do everything right. :oops: :)
 
Could someone tell me whether a deafault wipe ( 9 passes) using this program would stop a £10,000/a few months data recoverer from finding even snippets of the data?
You should physically destroy these disks.

2. I heard that once the wipe is done and you reinstall your OS that some of the harddrives names are changed ( :C: and D). Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening?
Install the Microsoft Windows operating system that you want in C: first. Create secondary partitions after the first operating system is installed.

3. I've also heard that DBAN will sometimes reduce the size of some of your harddrives, once again how do I prevent this?
DBAN does not reduce the size of a disk.

4. I'm planning on using the default wipe, firstly is that secure enough and secondly how long will it take to completely wipe a 40 gig operating system?
Read the FAQ.

6. Finally: how do you get DBAN to wipe all the file names of everything stored on the OS?
Run it.
 
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