diff --git a/pkg/controller/plan/kubevirt.go b/pkg/controller/plan/kubevirt.go
index c71b2e463..e670314e7 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/plan/kubevirt.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/plan/kubevirt.go
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ func (r *KubeVirt) SetPopulatorPodOwnership(vm *plan.VMStatus) (err error) {
 		return
 	}
 	for _, pod := range pods {
-		pvcId := strings.Split(pod.Name, "populate-")[1]
+		pvcId := pod.Name[len(PopulatorPodPrefix):]
 		for _, pvc := range pvcs {
 			if string(pvc.UID) != pvcId {
 				continue
@@ -898,7 +898,7 @@ func (r *KubeVirt) getPopulatorPods() (pods []core.Pod, err error) {
 		return nil, liberr.Wrap(err)
 	}
 	for _, pod := range migrationPods.Items {
-		if strings.HasPrefix(pod.Name, "populate-") {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(pod.Name, PopulatorPodPrefix) {
 			pods = append(pods, pod)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go b/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
index 7fc33572f..c38131366 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/plan/migration.go
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ const (
 )
 
 const (
-	TransferCompleted = "Transfer completed."
+	TransferCompleted  = "Transfer completed."
+	PopulatorPodPrefix = "populate-"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -1434,7 +1435,7 @@ func (r *Migration) updateCopyProgress(vm *plan.VMStatus, step *plan.Step) (err
 				if r.Plan.Spec.Warm && len(importer.Status.ContainerStatuses) > 0 {
 					vm.Warm.Failures = int(importer.Status.ContainerStatuses[0].RestartCount)
 				}
-				if RestartLimitExceeded(importer) {
+				if restartLimitExceeded(importer) {
 					task.MarkedCompleted()
 					msg, _ := terminationMessage(importer)
 					task.AddError(msg)
@@ -1612,20 +1613,48 @@ 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
 }
 
+// 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
+		}
+		break
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 func (r *Migration) setPopulatorPodsWithLabels(vm *plan.VMStatus, migrationID string) {
 	podList, err := r.kubevirt.GetPodsWithLabels(map[string]string{})
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 	for _, pod := range podList.Items {
-		if strings.HasPrefix(pod.Name, "populate-") {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(pod.Name, PopulatorPodPrefix) {
 			// it's populator pod
 			if _, ok := pod.Labels["migration"]; !ok {
 				// un-labeled pod, we need to set it
@@ -1682,7 +1711,7 @@ func terminationMessage(pod *core.Pod) (msg string, ok bool) {
 }
 
 // Return whether the pod has failed and restarted too many times.
-func RestartLimitExceeded(pod *core.Pod) (exceeded bool) {
+func restartLimitExceeded(pod *core.Pod) (exceeded bool) {
 	if len(pod.Status.ContainerStatuses) == 0 {
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/BUILD.bazel b/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/BUILD.bazel
index d9ec31e6f..af0c99c7b 100644
--- a/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/BUILD.bazel
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ go_library(
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     deps = [
         "//pkg/apis/forklift/v1beta1",
-        "//pkg/controller/plan",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/api/core/v1:core",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/api/storage/v1:storage",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors",
diff --git a/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go b/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go
index 28d862585..e92f690b8 100644
--- a/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/lib-volume-populator/populator-machinery/controller.go
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/konveyor/forklift-controller/pkg/apis/forklift/v1beta1"
-	"github.com/konveyor/forklift-controller/pkg/controller/plan"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	storagev1 "k8s.io/api/storage/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
@@ -77,6 +76,7 @@ const (
 	reasonPVCCreationError   = "PopulatorPVCCreationError"
 	reasonPopulatorProgress  = "PopulatorProgress"
 	AnnDefaultNetwork        = "v1.multus-cni.io/default-network"
+	AnnPopulatorReCreations  = "recreations"
 
 	qemuGroup = 107
 )
@@ -697,14 +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)
-				// Delete failed pods so we can try again
-				if !plan.RestartLimitExceeded(pod) {
-					err = c.kubeClient.CoreV1().Pods(populatorNamespace).Delete(ctx, pod.Name, metav1.DeleteOptions{})
-					if err != nil {
-						return err
-					}
+				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
@@ -799,6 +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}.*)`,