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Monitor and cancel an erasure

Follow a running erasure, continue working in the meantime, and check the result when it is finished.

While O&O SafeErase is erasing, the page shows the progress, the number of items, the current pass, the elapsed time and the estimated remaining time. Do not switch off the PC during the erasure.

Work during the erasure​

  • Continue in the background hides the page; the erasure goes on. A notice at the top of the window shows the progress; Show brings the page back.
  • Shut down when done switches the PC off after the erasure. Save the report or logs you need before that.

Only one erasure can run at a time. Wait until it has finished, or cancel it, before you start another one.

Cancel the erasure​

  1. Select Cancel now.
  2. Wait until the page shows that the erasure was cancelled.

Result: Processing stops. Items that were already erased stay erased. Items that were not yet processed, or only partially, may still be recoverable.

Cancelling a drive erasure

A drive or partition that was erased only partially contains neither the old data in full nor a usable file system. Erase it again completely. If you cancel the erasure of a system drive in Fortress Mode, Windows usually no longer starts.

Check the result​

The completion page shows whether the erasure was successful, completed with warnings, failed for some items, or was cancelled.

  1. Open Log and turn on Only warnings and errors.
  2. Check each entry. A typical cause is a file that another program keeps open.
  3. Select Show report for the full details.
  4. Remove the cause, for example close the program, and erase the remaining items again.

Result: You know which items were erased. A run with warnings or errors has not erased every item.

Next steps​