I assume your speaking about an IDE/ATA-HD??? You can zero a SCSI-HD. Trying to zero an IDE/ATA-HD will destroy the HD.
You are confusing terms: format vs initialize vs zero vs erase.
You cannot low-level format an IDE drive using most basic Mac and PC software because the IDE's controller manages the media's formatting. More sophisticated drive tools can, however, do it just fine. Format = lay out the drive's geometry (mark tracks and sectors) and create the bad-block and partition maps. Sometimes a format "operationg" may also include zeroing and perhaps verifying.
You can initialize any type of drive. Initialize = create a file system (partition/volume) on a formatted drive.
You can erase any type of volume. Erase = resetting block allocation maps and directories, and (optionally) zeroing the involved file/volume data blocks.
You can likewise zero things. Zeroing = write zeros on all the involved blocks (sectors) allocated to that file/volume/drive.
Then there's so-called DoD Erase methods... where you write a traveling pattern[*] of ones and zeros to each block, repeatedly. Depending on the level of "erase", you do it anywhere from once to thousands of times. And for those more sensative projects... You skip the erase step altogether -- you crack open the HDA then acid wash the individual platters. Are we having fun yet? :)
[*] Travelling pattern: Each pass thru the file/volume/drive, you write a different byte across the involved blocks. eg: 01 then 02 then 03 thru FF. This "exercises" each "bit" on the drive over and over, preventing magnetic scan techniques from recovering "old" layers of data.
- Dan.
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