Monitoring/logging progress

While converting/copying big files, log progress by sending USR1 signal to the process. For example to log to a file

$ progressFile=/path/to/progress/file.txt
$ dd if=/source/path of=/destination/path >> $progressFile 2>&1

Then in another terminal get the PID of the dd process

$ ps aux | grep dd # get PID
<...>
$ pid=<PID_of_dd_process>

And send signal every n seconds

$ n=60
$ watch --chgexit --interval $n kill -USR1 $pid

Resuming

If the dd process prematurely exits, you can resume by using the option seek and/or skip. Check the logs of the process and calculate how many blocks or bytes remain to be copied.