i forgot my iphone passcode. I have the phone hooked up itunes and it says "preparing iphone for restore" but it hasent done anything for several minutes.

If you have forgotten your passcode, or if a message says that your device is disabled, learn what you need, what you get and what is lost.

You need a computer to follow these steps. If you don't have a computer, borrow one from a friend.

Forgot? Click below to reset…

Click->If you forgot the passcode for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, or your ...

Regarding your data, If…

1. You have an iCloud or iTunes latest backup, then there is nothing to worry. If not read more...
2. You have synced your data to iCloud, then what you will get back is what you have synced to iCloud and uploaded to iCloud Drive; like the information that are synced and stored in iCloud are, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Mail, Notes, Voice Memos, shared photos, iCloud Photos*, Health data, call history, and files you store in iCloud Drive. (*-If you had turned on iCloud Photos, your content is automatically stored in iCloud.)
3. You have imported your Photos & Videos to Mac/PC then they are safely residing there on Mac/PC
4. You have uploaded some of it to Cloud Drives using Files app (iCloud Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, Flickr, box, AmazonDrive, Adobe Creative Cloud etc). The data remains there.
5. You have not backed up or do not have latest backup, nor imported nor you have synced nor uploaded your data to cloud drives prior to forgetting the passcode then I am sorry, all your data is lost.