Create a Bootable DBAN USB Pen Drive

We have previously covered an article on how to wipe your hard disk using the Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) CD. This requires burning the downloaded ISO disk image onto a blank CD and booting off this DBAN CD. But many people do not like to boot from the CD, because CDs are slower compared to USB drives. Also many people do not have the optical drives in their computer. In both cases, you can easily create a bootable DBAN USB thumb drive and boot from this USB drive to wipe your hard disk. Here is how :

1. Download the Darik's Boot and Nuke ISO image from http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/.
2. Download Universal USB Installer from http://www.pendrivelinux.com/.../Universal-USB-Installer-1.8.2.4.exe.
3. Insert a USB pen drive and let Windows detect it. The inserted USB pen drive must have atleast 15 MB free on it.
4. Run Universal-USB-Installer-1.8.2.4.exe that you downloaded in step #2 above.
5. Choose DBAN 2.2.6 in the drop-down listbox. Then click on the Browse button and choose the ISO disk image file that you downloaded in the step #1 above. Lastly, select the USB pen drive letter from the list.
   
6. The inserted USB pen drive has to be FAT formatted, in order to make it bootable. If your selected USB drive is not FAT32/FAT16 formatted, then select the checkbox labeled something like Format X:\ Drive. Please note that, formatting will erase all the exisiting content from the USB drive.
7. Click on the Create button at the bottom to start the USB creation process. You will be asked to confirm twice, if you want to create the bootable USB pen drive. Choose Yes to proceed both times.
   
8. In a few seconds, your bootable DBAN USB pen drive would be ready. Click the Close button to close the Universal USB Installer.