diff --git a/scripts/distribute-experiment.sh b/scripts/distribute-experiment.sh
index 651376be..0024fb29 100755
--- a/scripts/distribute-experiment.sh
+++ b/scripts/distribute-experiment.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ fi
 for h in $FAIL_DISTRIBUTE_HOSTS
 do
 	echo Distributing to $h ...
-	rsync -az --partial --delete --delete-excluded --exclude=core --exclude=trace.tc . $h:"$FAIL_EXPERIMENT_TARGETDIR" &
+	rsync -az --partial --delete-before --delete-excluded --exclude=core --exclude=trace.tc . $h:"$FAIL_EXPERIMENT_TARGETDIR" &
 done
 
 wait
diff --git a/scripts/multiple-clients.sh b/scripts/multiple-clients.sh
index 42ac8ea1..dec91bb1 100755
--- a/scripts/multiple-clients.sh
+++ b/scripts/multiple-clients.sh
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ killall -q -9 fail-client || true
 # penalty, copy all experiment-related stuff to /tmp.
 TMP=/tmp/fail.$(id -nu)
 mkdir -p $TMP
-rsync -a --delete * $TMP/
+rsync -a --delete-before * $TMP/
 if [ -d $LIBDIR ]
 then
-	rsync -a --delete $LIBDIR $TMP/
+	rsync -a --delete-before $LIBDIR $TMP/
 fi
 cd $TMP