Catalina install stuck on "About 9 minutes remaining ..." for 24 hours

Like others have reported, my Catalina install is stuck on the black screen with the white Apple logo and displays "About 9 minutes remaining ..." for the last 24 hours.

I read that people had to wait a very long time. I'm wondering if anyone has waited longer than 24 hours and had success. I'm hesitant to hard reboot because I have pictures that have not been backed up and I don't want to risk losing them. I know, my own terrible mistake for not backing up.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.