diff --git a/src/device.c b/src/device.c
index 08543be0..7410c5f4 100644
--- a/src/device.c
+++ b/src/device.c
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ int nwipe_device_scan( nwipe_context_t*** c )
 
     while( ( dev = ped_device_get_next( dev ) ) )
     {
+        /* to have some progress indication. can help if there are many/slow disks */
+        fprintf( stderr, "." );
+
         if( check_device( c, dev, dcount ) )
             dcount++;
 
@@ -95,6 +98,8 @@ int nwipe_device_get( nwipe_context_t*** c, char** devnamelist, int ndevnames )
 
     for( i = 0; i < ndevnames; i++ )
     {
+        /* to have some progress indication. can help if there are many/slow disks */
+        fprintf( stderr, "." );
 
         dev = ped_device_get( devnamelist[i] );
         if( !dev )
diff --git a/src/logging.c b/src/logging.c
index dbd24533..c288624f 100644
--- a/src/logging.c
+++ b/src/logging.c
@@ -893,6 +893,8 @@ void nwipe_log_summary( nwipe_context_t** ptr, int nwipe_selected )
         /* Create the PDF report/certificate */
         if( strcmp( nwipe_options.PDFreportpath, "noPDF" ) != 0 )
         {
+            /* to have some progress indication. can help if there are many/slow disks */
+            fprintf( stderr, "." );
             create_pdf( c[i] );
         }
     }