diff --git a/src/backups.js b/src/backups.js
index 902804f75..509275f41 100644
--- a/src/backups.js
+++ b/src/backups.js
@@ -35,13 +35,13 @@ var addons = require('./addons.js'),
     debug = require('debug')('box:backups'),
     eventlog = require('./eventlog.js'),
     filesystem = require('./storage/filesystem.js'),
-    fs = require('fs'),
     locker = require('./locker.js'),
     mailer = require('./mailer.js'),
     path = require('path'),
     paths = require('./paths.js'),
     progress = require('./progress.js'),
     s3 = require('./storage/s3.js'),
+    safe = require('safetydance'),
     shell = require('./shell.js'),
     settings = require('./settings.js'),
     SettingsError = require('./settings.js').SettingsError,
@@ -166,6 +166,23 @@ function copyLastBackup(app, manifest, prefix, callback) {
     });
 }
 
+function runBackupTask(backupId, appId, callback) {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof backupId, 'string');
+    assert(appId === null || typeof backupId === 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof callback, 'function');
+
+    shell.sudo('backup' + (appId ? 'App' : 'Box'), [ NODE_CMD, BACKUPTASK_CMD, backupId ].concat(appId ? [ appId ] : [ ]), function (error) {
+        if (error && (error.code === null /* signal */ || (error.code !== 0 && error.code !== 50))) { // backuptask crashed
+            return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, 'backuptask crashed'));
+        } else if (error && error.code === 50) { // exited with error
+            var result = safe.fs.readFileSync(paths.BACKUP_RESULT_FILE, 'utf8') || safe.error.message;
+            return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.EXTERNAL_ERROR, result));
+        }
+
+        callback();
+    });
+}
+
 function backupBoxWithAppBackupIds(appBackupIds, prefix, callback) {
     assert(Array.isArray(appBackupIds));
     assert.strictEqual(typeof prefix, 'string');
@@ -180,8 +197,8 @@ function backupBoxWithAppBackupIds(appBackupIds, prefix, callback) {
         shell.exec('backupBox', '/bin/bash', mysqlDumpArgs, function (error) {
             if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
-            shell.sudo('backupBox', [ NODE_CMD, BACKUPTASK_CMD, backupId ], function (error) {
-                if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+            runBackupTask(backupId, null /* appId */, function (error) {
+                if (error) return callback(error);
 
                 debug('backupBoxWithAppBackupIds: success');
 
@@ -220,19 +237,23 @@ function createNewAppBackup(app, manifest, prefix, callback) {
     var restoreConfig = apps.getAppConfig(app);
     restoreConfig.manifest = manifest;
 
-    async.series([
-        fs.writeFile.bind(null, path.join(paths.APPS_DATA_DIR, app.id + '/config.json'), JSON.stringify(restoreConfig)),
-        addons.backupAddons.bind(null, app, manifest.addons),
-        shell.sudo.bind(null, 'backupApp', [ NODE_CMD, BACKUPTASK_CMD, backupId, app.id ])
-    ], function (error) {
-        if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+    if (!safe.fs.writeFileSync(path.join(paths.APPS_DATA_DIR, app.id + '/config.json'), JSON.stringify(restoreConfig))) {
+        return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.EXTERNAL_ERROR, 'Error creating config.json: ' + safe.error.message));
+    }
 
-        debugApp(app, 'createNewAppBackup: %s done', backupId);
+    addons.backupAddons(app, manifest.addons, function (error) {
+        if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.EXTERNAL_ERROR, error.message));
 
-        backupdb.add({ id: backupId, version: manifest.version, type: backupdb.BACKUP_TYPE_APP, dependsOn: [ ], restoreConfig: restoreConfig }, function (error) {
-            if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+        runBackupTask(backupId, app.id, function (error) {
+            if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.EXTERNAL_ERROR, error.message));
 
-            callback(null, backupId);
+            debugApp(app, 'createNewAppBackup: %s done', backupId);
+
+            backupdb.add({ id: backupId, version: manifest.version, type: backupdb.BACKUP_TYPE_APP, dependsOn: [ ], restoreConfig: restoreConfig }, function (error) {
+                if (error) return callback(new BackupsError(BackupsError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
+
+                callback(null, backupId);
+            });
         });
     });
 }
diff --git a/src/backuptask.js b/src/backuptask.js
index 4f18f52f0..a27dc2278 100755
--- a/src/backuptask.js
+++ b/src/backuptask.js
@@ -10,14 +10,15 @@ require('debug').formatArgs = function formatArgs(args) {
 };
 
 var assert = require('assert'),
+    BackupsError = require('./backups.js').BackupsError,
+    caas = require('./storage/caas.js'),
     database = require('./database.js'),
     debug = require('debug')('box:backuptask'),
+    filesystem = require('./storage/filesystem.js'),
     path = require('path'),
     paths = require('./paths.js'),
-    filesystem = require('./storage/filesystem.js'),
-    caas = require('./storage/caas.js'),
     s3 = require('./storage/s3.js'),
-    BackupsError = require('./backups.js').BackupsError,
+    safe = require('safetydance'),
     settings = require('./settings.js');
 
 function api(provider) {
@@ -90,9 +91,11 @@ initialize(function (error) {
     if (error) throw error;
 
     function resultHandler(error) {
-        if (error) debug('Backuptask completed with error', error);
+        if (error) debug('completed with error', error);
 
-        debug('Backuptask completed');
+        debug('completed');
+
+        safe.fs.writeFileSync(paths.BACKUP_RESULT_FILE, error ? error.message : '');
 
         // https://nodejs.org/api/process.html are exit codes used by node. apps.js uses the value below
         // to check apptask crashes
diff --git a/src/paths.js b/src/paths.js
index a7050be93..63641a48d 100644
--- a/src/paths.js
+++ b/src/paths.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ var config = require('./config.js'),
 exports = module.exports = {
     CLOUDRON_DEFAULT_AVATAR_FILE: path.join(__dirname + '/../assets/avatar.png'),
     INFRA_VERSION_FILE: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'platformdata/INFRA_VERSION'),
+    BACKUP_RESULT_FILE: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'platformdata/backupresult'),
 
     OLD_DATA_DIR: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'data'),
     PLATFORM_DATA_DIR: path.join(config.baseDir(), 'platformdata'),
diff --git a/src/shell.js b/src/shell.js
index c9d1e4816..033507349 100644
--- a/src/shell.js
+++ b/src/shell.js
@@ -50,8 +50,12 @@ function exec(tag, file, args, callback) {
 
     cp.on('exit', function (code, signal) {
         if (code || signal) debug(tag + ' code: %s, signal: %s', code, signal);
+        if (code === 0) return callback();
 
-        callback(code === 0 ? null : new Error(util.format(tag + ' exited with error %s signal %s', code, signal)));
+        var e = new Error(util.format(tag + ' exited with error %s signal %s', code, signal));
+        e.code = code;
+        e.signal = signal;
+        callback(e);
     });
 
     cp.on('error', function (error) {
@@ -70,6 +74,7 @@ function sudo(tag, args, callback) {
     // -S makes sudo read stdin for password
     var cp = exec(tag, SUDO, [ '-S' ].concat(args), callback);
     cp.stdin.end();
+    return cp;
 }
 
 function sudoSync(tag, cmd, callback) {