Is the laptop using VFAT or NTFS? With samba this shouldn't make a difference but it might be useful for future reference. I belive the problem you are having is that the standard tar cannot read the archive bit via smbfs. I suggest trying smbtar, which should be included with samba. In Debian, smbtar is in the smbclient package. | Andrew S. Zbikowski | Home: 763.591.0977 | | http://www.ringworld.org | Work: 763.428.9119 | | http://www.itouthouse.com | PCS: 612.306.6055 | | Sinclair: "No boom?" Garibaldi: "No boom." | | Ivanova: "No boom today. Boom tomorrow. | | Always a boom tomorrow." |