diff --git a/roles/fetch-zuul-cloner/templates/zuul-cloner-shim.py.j2 b/roles/fetch-zuul-cloner/templates/zuul-cloner-shim.py.j2
index b4b8bc8ea..17ad49506 100644
--- a/roles/fetch-zuul-cloner/templates/zuul-cloner-shim.py.j2
+++ b/roles/fetch-zuul-cloner/templates/zuul-cloner-shim.py.j2
@@ -124,6 +124,19 @@ def readCloneMap(clone_map):
     return clone_map
 
 
+def get_fs(mounts, path):
+    longest_match = ''
+    real_path = os.path.realpath(path)
+    for mount_path in mounts.keys():
+        if (real_path.startswith(mount_path) and
+            len(mount_path) > len(longest_match)):
+            longest_match = mount_path
+    if longest_match:
+        return mounts[longest_match]
+    else:
+        return None
+
+
 def main():
     args = parseArgs()
 
@@ -134,6 +147,12 @@ def main():
     mapper = CloneMapper(clone_map, args.projects)
     dests = mapper.expand(workspace=args.workspace)
 
+    mounts = {}
+    with open('/proc/mounts') as f:
+        for line in f.readlines():
+            fs, mount_path = line.split()[0:2]
+            mounts[mount_path] = fs
+
     for project in args.projects:
         src = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser(REPO_SRC_DIR), project)
         if not os.path.exists(src):
@@ -168,13 +187,19 @@ def main():
             print("Creating %s" % d)
             os.makedirs(d)
 
+        src_fs = get_fs(mounts, src)
+        dst_fs = get_fs(mounts, dst)
+
         # Create hard link copy of the source directory
 
         # note: don't use "-a" here as that implies "--preserve=all"
         # which overwrites the permissions of dst from src ... this is
         # fatal to ssh if dst is a home directory and we make it
         # world-accessable.  This should leave dst alone
-        cmd = "cp -dRl %s/. %s" % (src, dst)
+        if src_fs == dst_fs:
+            cmd = "cp -dRl %s/. %s" % (src, dst)
+        else:
+            cmd = "cp -dR %s/. %s" % (src, dst)
         print("%s" % cmd)
         if os.system(cmd):
             print("Error executing: %s" % cmd)