Question : Problem: What is the easiest way to wipe an external hard drive?

I would like to wipe a 250 gb hard drive clean.  It currently has about 160 gb on it.
Is there an easy way to do this vs deleting each file/folder which seems to take forever?  Is special software needed?  I have Windows Vista.
I want to give the HD to my dad so he can use it on an XP machine.  He is not very computer literate, so I don't want to export any problems to him.
Steve

Answer : Problem: What is the easiest way to wipe an external hard drive?

You should be able to right click on it in Computer, and select "Format".

It will not do much more than remove the file pointers, so its not a secure wipe - but if you're not worried about it - thats the fastest way.