diff --git a/archiver.go b/archiver.go
index 4fa33819a..1ce7180bc 100644
--- a/archiver.go
+++ b/archiver.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/fd0/khepri/backend"
 	"github.com/fd0/khepri/chunker"
+	"github.com/juju/arrar"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -122,7 +123,7 @@ func (arch *Archiver) SaveFile(node *Node) error {
 	file, err := os.Open(node.path)
 	defer file.Close()
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return arrar.Annotate(err, "SaveFile()")
 	}
 
 	var blobs Blobs
@@ -196,7 +197,7 @@ func (arch *Archiver) loadTree(dir string) (*Tree, error) {
 	fd, err := os.Open(dir)
 	defer fd.Close()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, arch.Error(dir, nil, err)
 	}
 
 	entries, err := fd.Readdir(-1)
@@ -247,12 +248,12 @@ func (arch *Archiver) loadTree(dir string) (*Tree, error) {
 func (arch *Archiver) LoadTree(path string) (*Tree, error) {
 	fi, err := os.Lstat(path)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, arrar.Annotatef(err, "Lstat(%q)", path)
 	}
 
 	node, err := NodeFromFileInfo(path, fi)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, arrar.Annotate(err, "NodeFromFileInfo()")
 	}
 
 	if node.Type != "dir" {
@@ -265,7 +266,7 @@ func (arch *Archiver) LoadTree(path string) (*Tree, error) {
 	arch.Stats.Directories = 1
 	node.Tree, err = arch.loadTree(path)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, arrar.Annotate(err, "loadTree()")
 	}
 
 	arch.ScannerUpdate(arch.Stats)
diff --git a/cmd/khepri/cmd_backup.go b/cmd/khepri/cmd_backup.go
index 0e3972186..8ede5da32 100644
--- a/cmd/khepri/cmd_backup.go
+++ b/cmd/khepri/cmd_backup.go
@@ -52,8 +52,9 @@ func commandBackup(be backend.Server, key *khepri.Key, args []string) error {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "err: %v\n", err)
 	}
 	arch.Error = func(dir string, fi os.FileInfo, err error) error {
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "error for %s: %v\n%v\n", dir, err, fi)
-		return err
+		// TODO: make ignoring errors configurable
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "\nerror for %s: %v\n%v\n", dir, err, fi)
+		return nil
 	}
 
 	fmt.Printf("scanning %s\n", target)