Final answer:
A drive wipe is the quickest means of removing data from a hard drive.
Step-by-step explanation:
The quickest means of removing data from a hard drive, when there is no consideration regarding the total destruction of the data, would be a drive wipe.
A drive wipe is a method of overwriting all data on a hard drive with random patterns, making it virtually impossible to recover the original data. This process ensures that the data is completely erased and cannot be restored.
Other options mentioned in the question, such as a standard format, low level format, or overwrite program, may still leave traces of the original data on the hard drive.