diff --git a/setup/start.sh b/setup/start.sh
index 9abeb25a4..1d96ecd73 100755
--- a/setup/start.sh
+++ b/setup/start.sh
@@ -203,20 +203,31 @@ mysql -u root -p${mysql_root_password} -e 'CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS box'
 if [[ -n "${arg_restore_url}" ]]; then
     set_progress "30" "Downloading restore data"
 
-    decrypt=""
-    if [[ "${arg_restore_url}" == *.tar.gz.enc || -n "${arg_restore_key}" ]]; then
-        echo "==> Downloading encrypted backup: ${arg_restore_url} and key: ${arg_restore_key}"
-        decrypt=(openssl aes-256-cbc -d -nosalt -pass "pass:${arg_restore_key}")
-    else
-        echo "==> Downloading backup: ${arg_restore_url}"
-        decrypt=(cat -)
-    fi
+    readonly restore_dir="${arg_restore_url#file://}"
 
-    while true; do
-        if $curl -L "${arg_restore_url}" | "${decrypt[@]}" \
-        | tar -zxf - --overwrite -C "${BOX_DATA_DIR}"; then break; fi
-        echo "Failed to download data, trying again"
-    done
+    if [[ -d "${restore_dir}" ]]; then # rsync backup
+        echo "==> Copying backup: ${restore_dir}"
+        if [[ $(stat -c "%d" "${BOX_DATA_DIR}") == $(stat -c "%d" "${restore_dir}") ]]; then
+            cp -rl "${restore_dir}/." "${BOX_DATA_DIR}"
+        else
+            cp -r "${restore_dir}/." "${BOX_DATA_DIR}"
+        fi
+    else # tgz backup
+        decrypt=""
+        if [[ "${arg_restore_url}" == *.tar.gz.enc || -n "${arg_restore_key}" ]]; then
+            echo "==> Downloading encrypted backup: ${arg_restore_url} and key: ${arg_restore_key}"
+            decrypt=(openssl aes-256-cbc -d -nosalt -pass "pass:${arg_restore_key}")
+        elif [[ "${arg_restore_url}" == *.tar.gz ]]; then
+            echo "==> Downloading backup: ${arg_restore_url}"
+            decrypt=(cat -)
+        fi
+
+        while true; do
+            if $curl -L "${arg_restore_url}" | "${decrypt[@]}" \
+            | tar -zxf - --overwrite -C "${BOX_DATA_DIR}"; then break; fi
+            echo "Failed to download data, trying again"
+        done
+    fi
 
     set_progress "35" "Setting up MySQL"
     if [[ -f "${BOX_DATA_DIR}/box.mysqldump" ]]; then
diff --git a/src/backups.js b/src/backups.js
index 47ee661d7..f9bd53a03 100644
--- a/src/backups.js
+++ b/src/backups.js
@@ -520,16 +520,12 @@ function uploadBoxSnapshot(backupConfig, callback) {
     snapshotBox(function (error) {
         if (error) return callback(error);
 
-        // for the moment, box backups are always tarball based. this is because it makes it easy to restore
-        // in the future, if required, we can move out the mailboxes to a separate virtual app backup
-        const format = backupConfig.provider === 'exoscale-sos' ? 'rsync' : 'tgz'; // see also rotateBoxBackup
-
-        runBackupTask('snapshot/box', format, paths.BOX_DATA_DIR, function (error) {
+        runBackupTask('snapshot/box', backupConfig.format, paths.BOX_DATA_DIR, function (error) {
             if (error) return callback(error);
 
             debug('uploadBoxSnapshot: time: %s secs', (new Date() - startTime)/1000);
 
-            setSnapshotInfo('box', { timestamp: new Date().toISOString(), format: format }, callback);
+            setSnapshotInfo('box', { timestamp: new Date().toISOString(), format: backupConfig.format }, callback);
         });
     });
 }
@@ -545,7 +541,7 @@ function rotateBoxBackup(backupConfig, timestamp, appBackupIds, callback) {
 
     var snapshotTime = snapshotInfo.timestamp.replace(/[T.]/g, '-').replace(/[:Z]/g,'');
     var backupId = util.format('%s/box_%s_v%s', timestamp, snapshotTime, config.version());
-    const format = backupConfig.provider === 'exoscale-sos' ? 'rsync' : 'tgz'; //  // see also uploadBoxSnapshot
+    const format = backupConfig.format;
 
     log(`Rotating box backup to id ${backupId}`);