diff --git a/src/backupformat/rsync.js b/src/backupformat/rsync.js
index 4e15ad2d1..34ccdb866 100644
--- a/src/backupformat/rsync.js
+++ b/src/backupformat/rsync.js
@@ -111,13 +111,13 @@ async function saveFsMetadata(dataLayout, metadataFile) {
     // we assume small number of files. spawnSync will raise a ENOBUFS error after maxBuffer
     for (let lp of dataLayout.localPaths()) {
         const emptyDirs = await shell.exec('saveFsMetadata', `find ${lp} -type d -empty`, { maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 80 });
-        metadata.emptyDirs = metadata.emptyDirs.concat(emptyDirs.trim().split('\n').map((ed) => dataLayout.toRemotePath(ed)));
+        if (emptyDirs.length) metadata.emptyDirs = metadata.emptyDirs.concat(emptyDirs.trim().split('\n').map((ed) => dataLayout.toRemotePath(ed)));
 
         const execFiles = await shell.exec('saveFsMetadata', `find ${lp} -type f -executable`, { maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 80 });
-        metadata.execFiles = metadata.execFiles.concat(execFiles.trim().split('\n').map((ef) => dataLayout.toRemotePath(ef)));
+        if (execFiles.length) metadata.execFiles = metadata.execFiles.concat(execFiles.trim().split('\n').map((ef) => dataLayout.toRemotePath(ef)));
 
-        const symlinks = await shell.exec('safeFsMetadata', `find ${lp} -type l`, { maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 30 });
-        metadata.symlinks = metadata.symlinks.concat(symlinks.trim().split('\n').map((sl) => {
+        const symlinkFiles = await shell.exec('safeFsMetadata', `find ${lp} -type l`, { maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 * 30 });
+        if (symlinkFiles.length) metadata.symlinks = metadata.symlinks.concat(symlinkFiles.trim().split('\n').map((sl) => {
             const target = safe.fs.readlinkSync(sl);
             return { path: dataLayout.toRemotePath(sl), target };
         }));