How do you destroy your data and is it possible to recover the data?

Is it possible to recover data from a wiped hard disk partition? I suddenly thought whether the data could be recovered with any kind of programs either free or commercial one. I tried searching for the possibilities on Google, and found that there are certain sites discussing about this matter. They said that those free data destroying programs are not really that useful. You can read about it yourself. But, I do believe that they do perform something better than just by erasing the data using Windows command, don't they?

Here are the links which I read previously about deleting or wiping data:

http://whereismydata.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/deleting-and-wiping-data/

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/datacenter/think-youve-wiped-that-hard-drive-think-again/272

Here's my recent data destroying experience using two free data-related programs. I tried destroying the data on one of my hard drive which was 500 GB using partitioning plus wiping. First, I joined the partitions of the hard drive into one partition, then I performed the DOD 5220.22-M (3 passes) of CCleaner. I remembered that I even formatted the drive. (Click here to download CCleaner).

After the data destroying steps, I tried recovering it using Mini Tool Partition Recovery (you can download it for free). but the result was nothing was found except the Recycle Bin folder with nothing inside. See, it works. I chose Mini Tool Partition Recovery because this free program has ever recovered my data when I lost my data on a partition which other programs couldn't find anything. That's why I trust it more than other programs in Data Recovery.

So, my suggestion is at least perform two tasks together: partitioning and wiping. At least, you can feel more at ease than by just erasing or formatting the drive.