Windows 7: does formatting a disk actually write zeros to it?

According to this article from Microsoft, zeros are written to an entire disk when it is formatted (not using the quick format option) in Windows Vista and newer versions of Windows. My question is the following:

Does this also apply to Windows 7? The above article from Microsoft does not specify Windows 7 under "Applies to", although Windows 7 is (to the best of my knowledge) a later version?

Solution 1:

Yes, in the case of versions of Windows after Vista.

Prior to Windows Vista, a full format was the same as a quick format, but included a disk scan for bad sectors. As of Vista, this scan was replaced by writing zeroes to each sector of the drive (which in turn would reveal any bad sectors that couldn't be written to).

Another source here related definitively to Windows 7 states:

What's a quick format?

Quick format is a formatting option that creates a new file table on a hard disk but does not fully overwrite or erase the disk. A quick format is much faster than a normal format, which fully erases any existing data on the hard disk.

_{Emphasis mine}

I don't know why the source you've provided isn't mentioning Windows 7, but it does apply.

Evidence

Prior to formatting my SD card:

Full format complete:

After formatting my SD card: