erasing data

Hi all,

I have a mac mini without a superdrive and i want to erase the data on the hard drive. I've tried using system utilities, but I can't seem to do what I want.

Anyone have any ideas?

Model Name: Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Boot ROM Version: MM51.0077.B10
SMC Version (system): 1.76f0

Hardware UUID: CD64FE82-0847-56F2-BC05-DD70A4DE6E2A

You can't get a hard drive to erase its self. In the absence of any other suggestions, you'll need to clone your hard drive to an external drive, then boot from that drive and you'll then be able to erase the Mini's drive.

You don't say what OS you are running, but I am guessing by your specs that it is Lion or Mtn Lion. Anyway, you cant format/erase the drive you booted from. Create a bootable USB ThumbDrive, boot to it and then use Disk Utility to reformat your HD.

EDIT: MightyGem's suggestion will also work (and he types faster than I do)

I am running Lion 10.4.7

I will try that, thanks.