diff --git a/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-backup-userdata b/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-backup-userdata
index 9a8b7e923..9944e39dc 100755
--- a/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-backup-userdata
+++ b/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-backup-userdata
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ ghe_remote_version_required "$host"
 
 # Verify that the user data directory exists. Bail out if not, which may be due
 # to an older version of GHE or no data has been added to this directory yet.
-ghe-ssh "$host" -- "sudo -u git [ -d '$GHE_REMOTE_DATA_USER_DIR/$dirname' ]" || exit 0
+if [ "$GHE_VERSION_MAJOR" -ge 2 ]; then
+  ghe-ssh "$host" -- "sudo -u git [ -d '$GHE_REMOTE_DATA_USER_DIR/$dirname' ]" || exit 0
+else
+  ghe-ssh "$host" -- "[ -d '$GHE_REMOTE_DATA_USER_DIR/$dirname' ]" || exit 0
+fi
 
 # If we have a previous increment and it is not empty, avoid transferring existing files via rsync's
 # --link-dest support. This also decreases physical space usage considerably.
diff --git a/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-restore-userdata b/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-restore-userdata
index abf1a6943..2156ac041 100755
--- a/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-restore-userdata
+++ b/share/github-backup-utils/ghe-restore-userdata
@@ -33,9 +33,14 @@ ghe_remote_version_required "$GHE_HOSTNAME"
 # Transfer data from the latest snapshot to the GitHub instance in a single
 # rsync invocation.
 if [ -d "$GHE_DATA_DIR/$GHE_RESTORE_SNAPSHOT/$dirname" ]; then
+  # Create the remote user data directory
+  if [ "$GHE_VERSION_MAJOR" -ge 2 ]; then
+    ghe-ssh "$GHE_HOSTNAME" -- "sudo -u git mkdir -p $GHE_REMOTE_DATA_USER_DIR/$dirname"
+  fi
+  
   ghe-rsync -avz --delete \
       -e "ghe-ssh -p $(ssh_port_part "$GHE_HOSTNAME")" \
-      --rsync-path="sudo -u git mkdir -p $GHE_REMOTE_DATA_USER_DIR/$dirname && sudo -u git rsync" \
+      --rsync-path="sudo -u git rsync" \
       "$GHE_DATA_DIR/$GHE_RESTORE_SNAPSHOT/$dirname/" \
       "$(ssh_host_part "$GHE_HOSTNAME"):$GHE_REMOTE_DATA_USER_DIR/$dirname" 1>&3
 fi