Im building a new computer and I wanted to save some money by taking the HDD out of my old computer. I need to wipe the HDD co

This article may prove useful :3 - USB Hard Drive Formatter

Disconnect the OS drive, fit and internal speaker and see if the PC post/loads bios OK or whether you get a post/beep code error per http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

If it posts OK then you have a drive/OS problem. Put your drive in another PC and do a Checkdisk with Repair on it. And check it with the manufacturer's Diagnostic Tool.

If not OK replace it. Re-install Windows.

If you're sure you want to "wipe the HDD completely", what you need to do is called a Zero Fill. This is a sure-fire way to wipe everything old away, AND at the same time trigger some internal self-diagnostic and fixing routines. In modern HDD's any write to a Sector causes an internal self-check to ensure the write was good. If that check fails, the HDD itself takes corrective action by marking that Sector as never to be used, and replacing it from a semi-hidden stock of known-good spare Sectors. The HDD then updates its records of how many of these repairs have been done as part of its SMART data. That info is available for examination using diagnostic utilities. In addition, if your BIOS has been set to check the SMART data at boot time, it will display for you any error messages generated by the SMART system. One type of error it can show is that this Sector replacement thing has happened enough times to exceed a limit. This error message means two things:
(a) the stock of spare known-good Sectors is getting low, so you're getting close to the limit of not being able to do more such fixes; and,
(b) such fixes have become so numerous that the prediction for the future is that things will continue to get worse.
For both those reasons, now is the time to replace the HDD while it is still operating OK and you CAN get all your data off it cleanly.

As long as you do NOT get this kind of SMART error, the self-fixing process has succeeded and there is no need to worry about drive replacement now.

A Zero Fill operation will write to EVERY Sector of the HDD, thus making sure that ALL of the Sectors have been tested and any weak ones replaced. Thus, your entire HDD is now in perfect condition for use. You are ready to re-Install Windows on a reliable drive.

You MUST realize (I expect you do) that this operation completely destroys all the stuff on the HDD. So if it contains anything you need to save, you MUST find a way to get a copy of that stuff off the old HDD BEFORE you do a Zero Fill.

To do a Zero Fill, one source of diagnostic utility package with that ability may be as a free download from the website of your HDD's manufacturer. Another is the DBAN utility recommended by others above. In each case you get a downloaded file that is an .iso image. You need a CD-burning Utility like Nero that can "burn" this .iso file to a CD-R. That disk is then a bootable disk with its own mini Operating System and a menu of tools to use for diagnosis and manipulation of your HDD. To make this, obviously, you need a working computer (for download and burning), so maybe use someone else's temporarily for that.

To use such a utility package, you place the CD in your optical drive and switch on. Do NOT wait for it to boot. Go immediately into BIOS Setup. On most machines, hold down the "Del" key while it powers up, until the opening screen of BIOS setup appears. On some machines it is a different key, so as the POST process proceeds, watch the screen for the message about what key to press (hold down) to Enter Setup. Once in BIOS Setup, look for where you specify the Boot Priority Sequence. Set it to use the optical drive as first choice, and then the HDD as second. In most cases you won't need to set a third choice. SAVE and EXIT from here, and the machine will boot and run from the CD. The key thing here is that this will get you running the diagnostic tools even though your machine does NOT have any bootable HDD in it. Use the utility to read info from the HDD, run tests on it, and run repair tools such as the Zero Fill. BUT make VERY SURE you start out by telling it to work on the faulty HDD. Some of the tools destroy data, so you do NOT want to risk doing that to the wrong drive!