[dnanian]

We actually ask Disk Utility to erase the drive, and what must be going on is that, for some reason, it hasn't returned to tell us that the deed is done.

I don't know what might be interfering with it on your particular system, but I'd suggest clicking stop, restarting your Mac, and then giving it another shot.

Make sure that, if you're using any kind of AntiVirus program, you turn off its autoprotect/autoscan functionality.

Hope that helps -- let me know.