How do I use migration assistance with hard drive reader for dead macbook

Hi,

My old mac laptop died without warning.

I took it to the apple store and they suggested getting a hard drive reader and using that to transfer

across my files.

I've connected it up and have requested the migration assistant to transfer the files. Last night it

said it would 27 hours to transfer and now this morning it is saying 72 hours. This seems to

be a very long time - is it correct? Can I make it go faster or is there another way?

I've got a bit of music on there but nothing excessive. I do have about 15,000 photos though.

I'm not very techy so any assistance would be very helpful

Thanks

Sarah