I'm using WinHTTrack Website Copier 3.49-2

I have searched and found quite a few similar topics but none that address
this issue directly.

I have a photo heavy site with ~8GB of photos (~22,000 files) and when I try
to mirror it, I can let the website copy run for an entire day while hardly
scratching the surface.

Instead of waiting for every image to download, I would like HTTrack to use
the files I have already pre-downloaded from the server.

I have tried dropping the files in place in the target directory and that
seemed to wreak all sorts of havok.

I have tried excluding the photos folder in the scan rules but then links to
those files point to the live server instead of the local files.

I have tried fiddling with every setting I can think of.

I am at a loss. Please help.