diff --git a/src/commons/DBWriter.cpp b/src/commons/DBWriter.cpp
index 40f8711f6..ae652dcea 100644
--- a/src/commons/DBWriter.cpp
+++ b/src/commons/DBWriter.cpp
@@ -581,7 +581,7 @@ void DBWriter::mergeResults(const char *outFileName, const char *outFileNameInde
 
         // merge index
         mergeIndex(indexFileNames, dataFilenames.size(), mergedSizes);
-    } else {
+    } else if (dataFilenames.size() == 1) {
         std::vector<std::string>& filenames = dataFilenames[0];
         if (filenames.size() == 1) {
             // In single thread dbreader mode it will create a .0
@@ -590,12 +590,25 @@ void DBWriter::mergeResults(const char *outFileName, const char *outFileNameInde
         } else {
             DBReader<unsigned int>::moveDatafiles(filenames, outFileName);
         }
-    }
-    if (indexNeedsToBeSorted) {
-        DBWriter::sortIndex(indexFileNames[0], outFileNameIndex, lexicographicOrder);
-        FileUtil::remove(indexFileNames[0]);
     } else {
-        FileUtil::move(indexFileNames[0], outFileNameIndex);
+        FILE *outFh = FileUtil::openAndDelete(outFileName, "w");
+        if (fclose(outFh) != 0) {
+            Debug(Debug::ERROR) << "Cannot close data file " << outFileName << "\n";
+            EXIT(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        }
+        outFh = FileUtil::openAndDelete(outFileNameIndex, "w");
+        if (fclose(outFh) != 0) {
+            Debug(Debug::ERROR) << "Cannot close index file " << outFileNameIndex << "\n";
+            EXIT(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        }
+    }
+    if (dataFilenames.size() > 0) {
+        if (indexNeedsToBeSorted) {
+            DBWriter::sortIndex(indexFileNames[0], outFileNameIndex, lexicographicOrder);
+            FileUtil::remove(indexFileNames[0]);
+        } else {
+            FileUtil::move(indexFileNames[0], outFileNameIndex);
+        }
     }
     Debug(Debug::INFO) << "Time for merging to " << FileUtil::baseName(outFileName) << ": " << timer.lap() << "\n";
 }
diff --git a/src/prefiltering/Prefiltering.cpp b/src/prefiltering/Prefiltering.cpp
index aebbde3d9..06d0504a7 100644
--- a/src/prefiltering/Prefiltering.cpp
+++ b/src/prefiltering/Prefiltering.cpp
@@ -633,13 +633,13 @@ void Prefiltering::runMpiSplits(const std::string &resultDB, const std::string &
             // merge output databases
             mergePrefilterSplits(resultDB, resultDBIndex, splitFiles);
         } else {
-            Debug(Debug::ERROR) << "Aborting. No results were computed!\n";
-            EXIT(EXIT_FAILURE);
+            DBWriter writer(resultDB.c_str(), resultDBIndex.c_str(), 1, compressed, Parameters::DBTYPE_PREFILTER_RES);
+            writer.open();
+            writer.close();
         }
 
         delete [] results;
     }
-
 }
 #endif
 
@@ -696,6 +696,11 @@ int Prefiltering::runSplits(const std::string &resultDB, const std::string &resu
         if (runSplit(resultDB.c_str(), resultDBIndex.c_str(), fromSplit, merge)) {
             hasResult = true;
         }
+    } else if (splitProcessCount == 0) {
+        DBWriter writer(resultDB.c_str(), resultDBIndex.c_str(), 1, compressed, Parameters::DBTYPE_PREFILTER_RES);
+        writer.open();
+        writer.close();
+        hasResult = false;
     }
 
     return hasResult;