diff --git a/tarback.sh b/tarback.sh
index 6166130..57a9772 100755
--- a/tarback.sh
+++ b/tarback.sh
@@ -12,10 +12,12 @@ TARBACK_TRANSFORM_REMOTE_ARGUMENT_COMMAND_DEFAULT=
 TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_DEFAULT='tar c -C "$1" .'
 # shellcheck disable=SC2016 # disable variable not expanding hint
 TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_FILE_DEFAULT='tar c -C "$(dirname "$1")" "$(basename "$1")"'
+TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_USE_ALT_COMMAND_DEFAULT='[ ! -d "$1" ]'
 # shellcheck disable=SC2016 # disable variable not expanding hint
 TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_DEFAULT='tar x -C "$1"'
 # shellcheck disable=SC2016 # disable variable not expanding hint
 TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_FILE_DEFAULT='tar x -C "$(dirname "$1")"'
+TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_USE_ALT_COMMAND_DEFAULT='[ ! -e "$1" ] && [ -d "$(dirname "$1")" ]'
 TARBACK_COMPRESSION_DEFAULT='xz'
 TARBACK_SPLIT_DEFAULT="split -b $((128*1024*1024)) -"
 TARBACK_MERGE_DEFAULT='cat'
@@ -30,8 +32,10 @@ TARBACK_TRANSFORM_REMOTE_COMMAND="${TARBACK_TRANSFORM_REMOTE_COMMAND:-$TARBACK_T
 TARBACK_TRANSFORM_REMOTE_ARGUMENT_COMMAND="${TARBACK_TRANSFORM_REMOTE_ARGUMENT_COMMAND:-$TARBACK_TRANSFORM_REMOTE_ARGUMENT_COMMAND_DEFAULT}"
 TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND="${TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND:-$TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_DEFAULT}"
 TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_FILE="${TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_FILE:-$TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_FILE_DEFAULT}"
+TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_USE_ALT_COMMAND="${TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_USE_ALT_COMMAND:-$TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_USE_ALT_COMMAND_DEFAULT}"
 TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND="${TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND:-$TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_DEFAULT}"
 TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_FILE="${TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_FILE:-$TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_FILE_DEFAULT}"
+TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_USE_ALT_COMMAND="${TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_USE_ALT_COMMAND:-$TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_USE_ALT_COMMAND_DEFAULT}"
 TARBACK_COMPRESSION="${TARBACK_COMPRESSION:-$TARBACK_COMPRESSION_DEFAULT}"
 TARBACK_SPLIT="${TARBACK_SPLIT:-$TARBACK_SPLIT_DEFAULT}"
 TARBACK_MERGE="${TARBACK_MERGE:-$TARBACK_MERGE_DEFAULT}"
@@ -68,7 +72,7 @@ _create() {
     # $2 ... dst
     src="$1"
     dst="$(_transform_split_name "$2")"
-    if [ -d "$src" ]; then
+    if ! sh -c "$TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_USE_ALT_COMMAND" - "$src"; then
         tarback_tar_create_command="$TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND"
     else
         tarback_tar_create_command="$TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_FILE"
@@ -86,10 +90,10 @@ create() {
 _restore() {
     src="$(_transform_split_name "$1")"
     dst="$2"
-    if [ ! -e "$dst" ] && [ -d "$(dirname "$dst")" ]; then
-        tarback_tar_extract_command="$TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_FILE"
-    else
+    if ! sh -c "$TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_USE_ALT_COMMAND" - "$dst"; then
         tarback_tar_extract_command="$TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND"
+    else
+        tarback_tar_extract_command="$TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_FILE"
     fi
     tarback_tar_extract_command="$(_transform_remote "$tarback_tar_extract_command")"
     $TARBACK_MERGE "$src"* \
diff --git a/tarback/docker.sh b/tarback/docker.sh
index f277d56..9e66adf 100644
--- a/tarback/docker.sh
+++ b/tarback/docker.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 _tarback_plugin_docker_cmd='docker run -i --rm --workdir=/mnt --volume="$1":/mnt/"$1" alpine '
-TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND_FILE="$_tarback_plugin_docker_cmd "'tar c -C "/mnt/$1" .'
-TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND_FILE="$_tarback_plugin_docker_cmd "'tar x -C "/mnt/$1"'
+TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_COMMAND="$_tarback_plugin_docker_cmd "'tar c -C "/mnt/$1" .'
+TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_COMMAND="$_tarback_plugin_docker_cmd "'tar x -C "/mnt/$1"'
+TARBACK_TAR_CREATE_USE_ALT_COMMAND=false
+TARBACK_TAR_EXTRACT_USE_ALT_COMMAND=false