diff --git a/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go b/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
index 8fca6f624..c38131366 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
@@ -1580,10 +1580,6 @@ func (r *Migration) updatePopulatorCopyProgress(vm *plan.VMStatus, step *plan.St
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	populatorPods, err := r.kubevirt.getPopulatorPods()
-	if err != nil {
-		return
-	}
 
 	for _, pvc := range pvcs {
 		if _, ok := pvc.Annotations["lun"]; ok {
@@ -1602,11 +1598,6 @@ func (r *Migration) updatePopulatorCopyProgress(vm *plan.VMStatus, step *plan.St
 			continue
 		}
 
-		_, err = r.isPopulatorFailed(populatorPods, string(pvc.UID))
-		if err != nil {
-			return
-		}
-
 		if pvc.Status.Phase == core.ClaimBound {
 			task.Phase = Completed
 			task.Reason = TransferCompleted
@@ -1622,25 +1613,39 @@ func (r *Migration) updatePopulatorCopyProgress(vm *plan.VMStatus, step *plan.St
 		}
 
 		percent := float64(transferredBytes/0x100000) / float64(task.Progress.Total)
-		task.Progress.Completed = int64(percent * float64(task.Progress.Total))
+		newProgress := int64(percent * float64(task.Progress.Total))
+		if newProgress == task.Progress.Completed {
+			pvcId := string(pvc.UID)
+			populatorFailed := r.isPopulatorPodFailed(pvcId)
+			if populatorFailed {
+				return fmt.Errorf("populator pod failed for PVC %s. Please check the pod logs", pvcId)
+			}
+		}
+		task.Progress.Completed = newProgress
 	}
 
 	step.ReflectTasks()
 	return
 }
 
-func (r *Migration) isPopulatorFailed(populatorPods []core.Pod, givenPvcId string) (bool, error) {
+// Checks if the populator pod failed when the progress didn't change
+func (r *Migration) isPopulatorPodFailed(givenPvcId string) bool {
+	populatorPods, err := r.kubevirt.getPopulatorPods()
+	if err != nil {
+		r.Log.Error(err, "couldn't get the populator pods")
+		return false
+	}
 	for _, pod := range populatorPods {
 		pvcId := pod.Name[len(PopulatorPodPrefix):]
 		if givenPvcId != pvcId {
 			continue
 		}
 		if pod.Status.Phase == core.PodFailed {
-			return true, fmt.Errorf("populator pod %s/%s failed for PVC %s. Please check the pod logs.", pod.Namespace, pod.Name, pvcId)
+			return true
 		}
 		break
 	}
-	return false, nil
+	return false
 }
 
 func (r *Migration) setPopulatorPodsWithLabels(vm *plan.VMStatus, migrationID string) {
diff --git a/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go b/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go
index 44f40cb42..e92f690b8 100644
--- a/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ const (
 	reasonPVCCreationError   = "PopulatorPVCCreationError"
 	reasonPopulatorProgress  = "PopulatorProgress"
 	AnnDefaultNetwork        = "v1.multus-cni.io/default-network"
+	AnnPopulatorReCreations  = "recreations"
 
 	qemuGroup = 107
 )
@@ -696,7 +697,18 @@ func (c *controller) syncPvc(ctx context.Context, key, pvcNamespace, pvcName str
 
 		if corev1.PodSucceeded != pod.Status.Phase {
 			if corev1.PodFailed == pod.Status.Phase {
-				c.recorder.Eventf(pvc, corev1.EventTypeWarning, reasonPodFailed, "Populator failed: %s", pod.Status.Message)
+				restarts, ok := pvc.Annotations[AnnPopulatorReCreations]
+				if !ok {
+					return c.retryFailedPopulator(ctx, pvc, populatorNamespace, pod.Name, 1)
+				}
+				restartsInteger, err := strconv.Atoi(restarts)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				if restartsInteger < 3 {
+					return c.retryFailedPopulator(ctx, pvc, populatorNamespace, pod.Name, restartsInteger+1)
+				}
+				c.recorder.Eventf(pvc, corev1.EventTypeWarning, reasonPodFailed, "Populator failed after few (3) attempts: Please check the logs of the populator pod, %s/%s", populatorNamespace, pod.Name)
 			}
 			// We'll get called again later when the pod succeeds
 			return nil
@@ -791,6 +803,24 @@ func (c *controller) syncPvc(ctx context.Context, key, pvcNamespace, pvcName str
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (c *controller) retryFailedPopulator(ctx context.Context, pvc *corev1.PersistentVolumeClaim, namespace, podName string, counter int) error {
+	pvc.Annotations[AnnPopulatorReCreations] = strconv.Itoa(counter)
+	err := c.updatePvc(ctx, pvc, namespace)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	err = c.kubeClient.CoreV1().Pods(namespace).Delete(ctx, podName, metav1.DeleteOptions{})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (c *controller) updatePvc(ctx context.Context, pvc *corev1.PersistentVolumeClaim, namespace string) (err error) {
+	_, err = c.kubeClient.CoreV1().PersistentVolumeClaims(namespace).Update(ctx, pvc, metav1.UpdateOptions{})
+	return err
+}
+
 func (c *controller) updateProgress(pvc *corev1.PersistentVolumeClaim, podIP string, cr *unstructured.Unstructured) error {
 	populatorKind := pvc.Spec.DataSourceRef.Kind
 	var diskRegex = regexp.MustCompile(fmt.Sprintf(`volume_populators_%s\{%s=\"([0-9a-fA-F]{8}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{12})"\} (\d{1,3}.*)`,