diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify.yml b/.github/workflows/verify.yml
index 55e57a9..06f81da 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/verify.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ jobs:
       EXCLUDES: '*.jar,exclude_dir'
       RCON_PATH: /usr/bin/rcon-cli
       DEBUG: true
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
     services:
       registry:
         image: registry:2
@@ -26,11 +28,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
-# Script needs to be cleaned up a lot for shellcheck'ing
-#       - name: ShellCheck
-#         uses: ludeeus/action-shellcheck@1.1.0
-#         with:
-#           ignore: tests
+      # Script needs to be cleaned up a lot for shellcheck'ing
+      #       - name: ShellCheck
+      #         uses: ludeeus/action-shellcheck@1.1.0
+      #         with:
+      #           ignore: tests
 
       - name: Hadolint Action
         uses: hadolint/hadolint-action@v3.1.0
@@ -66,3 +68,9 @@ jobs:
           INITIAL_DELAY: 0s
           RESTIC_PASSWORD: 1234
         run: ./tests/test.simple.restic.sh
+
+      - name: Test skip on startup
+        run: ./tests/skip-on-startup/test.skip-on-startup.sh
+
+      - name: Test preserve manual backups
+        run: ./tests/preserve-manual-backups/test.preserve-manual-backups.sh
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3fcff17..8efccca 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Provides a side-car container to back up [itzg/minecraft-server](https://github.
 - `BACKUP_ON_STARTUP`=true : Set to false to skip first backup on startup.
 - `PAUSE_IF_NO_PLAYERS`=false
 - `PLAYERS_ONLINE_CHECK_INTERVAL`=5m
+- `PRESERVE_MANUAL_BACKUPS`=false : Adds a "-preserve" suffix to [on-demand backups](#on-demand-backups) which will be ignored by prune steps
 - `PRUNE_BACKUPS_DAYS`=7
 - `PRUNE_BACKUPS_COUNT`= -disabled unless set (only works with tar/rsync)
 - `PRUNE_RESTIC_RETENTION`=--keep-within 7d
diff --git a/scripts/opt/backup-loop.sh b/scripts/opt/backup-loop.sh
index 4d53cde..52314ed 100644
--- a/scripts/opt/backup-loop.sh
+++ b/scripts/opt/backup-loop.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ fi
 : "${BACKUP_ON_STARTUP:=true}"
 : "${PAUSE_IF_NO_PLAYERS:=false}"
 : "${PLAYERS_ONLINE_CHECK_INTERVAL:=5m}"
+: "${PRESERVE_MANUAL_BACKUPS:=false}"
 : "${BACKUP_METHOD:=tar}" # currently one of tar, restic, rsync
 : "${TAR_COMPRESS_METHOD:=gzip}"  # bzip2 gzip zstd
 : "${ZSTD_PARAMETERS:=-3 --long=25 --single-thread}"
@@ -77,6 +78,14 @@ is_one_shot() {
   fi
 }
 
+PRESERVE_SUFFIX="-preserve"
+
+if is_one_shot && [[ "${PRESERVE_MANUAL_BACKUPS^^}" = TRUE ]]; then
+  suffix="-preserve"
+else 
+  suffix=""
+fi
+
 is_paused() {
     [[ -e "${SRC_DIR}/.paused" ]]
 }
@@ -229,11 +238,11 @@ tar() {
   readarray -td, includes_patterns < <(printf '%s' "${INCLUDES:-.}")
 
   _find_old_backups() {
-    find "${DEST_DIR}" -maxdepth 1 -name "*.${backup_extension}" -mtime "+${PRUNE_BACKUPS_DAYS}" "${@}"
+    find "${DEST_DIR}" -maxdepth 1 -name "*.${backup_extension}" -not -name "*${PRESERVE_SUFFIX}*" -mtime "+${PRUNE_BACKUPS_DAYS}" "${@}"
   }
 
   _find_extra_backups() {
-  find "${DEST_DIR}" -maxdepth 1 -name "*.${backup_extension}" -exec ls -NtA {} \+ | \
+  find "${DEST_DIR}" -maxdepth 1 -name "*.${backup_extension}" -not -name "*${PRESERVE_SUFFIX}*" -exec ls -NtA {} \+ | \
     tail -n +$((PRUNE_BACKUPS_COUNT + 1))
   }
 
@@ -263,7 +272,7 @@ tar() {
   }
   backup() {
     ts=$(date +"%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
-    outFile="${DEST_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}-${ts}.${backup_extension}"
+    outFile="${DEST_DIR}/${BACKUP_NAME}-${ts}${suffix}.${backup_extension}"
     log INFO "Backing up content in ${SRC_DIR} to ${outFile}"
     command tar "${excludes[@]}" "${tar_parameters[@]}" -cf "${outFile}" -C "${SRC_DIR}" "${includes_patterns[@]}" || exitCode=$?
     if [ ${exitCode:-0} -eq 0 ]; then
@@ -275,7 +284,7 @@ tar() {
       exit 1
     fi
     if [ "${LINK_LATEST^^}" == "TRUE" ]; then
-      ln -sf "${BACKUP_NAME}-${ts}.${backup_extension}" "${DEST_DIR}/latest.${backup_extension}"
+      ln -sf "${BACKUP_NAME}-${ts}${suffix}.${backup_extension}" "${DEST_DIR}/latest.${backup_extension}"
     fi
   }
   prune() {
diff --git a/tests/preserve-manual-backups/docker-compose.override.yml b/tests/preserve-manual-backups/docker-compose.override.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e755ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/preserve-manual-backups/docker-compose.override.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+services:
+  backup:
+    environment:
+      PRESERVE_MANUAL_BACKUPS: true
diff --git a/tests/preserve-manual-backups/docker-compose.yml b/tests/preserve-manual-backups/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8fa3f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/preserve-manual-backups/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+services:
+  mc:
+    image: itzg/minecraft-server
+    restart: always
+    tty: true
+    stdin_open: true
+    ports:
+      - "25565:25565"
+    environment:
+      EULA: "TRUE"
+      ENABLE_AUTOPAUSE: "TRUE"
+      AUTOPAUSE_TIMEOUT_EST: 30
+    volumes:
+      - "./data:/data"
+
+  backup:
+    restart: "no"
+    build: ../../
+    depends_on:
+      mc:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    environment:
+      BACKUP_INTERVAL: "1h"
+      BACKUP_ON_STARTUP: false # isolate to only ONE_SHOT backups
+      PRUNE_BACKUPS_DAYS: 1 # create a file 2 days old to get pruned in test
+      RCON_HOST: mc
+      INITIAL_DELAY: 0
+      PAUSE_IF_NO_PLAYERS: true
+    deploy:
+      resources:
+        limits:
+          memory: 2G
+    volumes:
+      - "./data:/data:ro"
+      - "./backups:/backups"
diff --git a/tests/preserve-manual-backups/test.preserve-manual-backups.sh b/tests/preserve-manual-backups/test.preserve-manual-backups.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6d93f81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/preserve-manual-backups/test.preserve-manual-backups.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -x
+WORKDIR="$(realpath "$(dirname "${0}")")"
+cd "${WORKDIR}/" || exit
+
+mkdir -p ./backups
+mkdir -p ./data
+
+cleanup_backups() {
+  rm -rf ./backups/*
+}
+
+cleanup_all() {
+  docker compose down
+  cleanup_backups
+  rm -rf ./data/*
+}
+
+## Clean up upon failure or reaching the end
+trap cleanup_all EXIT
+
+setup() {
+  # Set inital exit state to PASS (0)
+  overall_status=0
+
+  # Build from current filesystem
+  echo "Building..."
+  docker compose build > /dev/null
+
+  echo "Starting server..."
+  rm -rf ./data/*
+  docker compose up mc -d > /dev/null
+}
+
+old_timestamp=$(TZ=UTC+96 date +%Y%m%d%H%M) # Two days old
+
+run_test1(){
+  echo -e "\nTest 1: Ensure default behavior, no suffix"
+  cleanup_backups
+
+  docker compose -f docker-compose.yml config
+  
+  docker compose -f docker-compose.yml run --rm --build backup now
+  preserved_backup_count=$(find backups/ -name "*.tgz" -name "*preserve*" | wc -l)
+  not_preserved_backup_count=$(find backups/ -name "*.tgz" -not -name "*preserve*" | wc -l)
+  
+  tree backups
+  
+  echo "Preserved backups: ${preserved_backup_count}"
+  echo "Not-Preserved backups: ${not_preserved_backup_count}"
+
+  # Ensure typical backup does not have "-preserve" suffix
+  if [ 1 -eq "$not_preserved_backup_count" ]; then
+    echo "PASS"
+  else
+    echo "FAIL"
+    overall_status=1
+  fi
+}
+
+run_test2(){
+  echo -e "\nTest 2: Ensure added suffix and preserved are not pruned"
+  cleanup_backups
+
+  # Two old backups
+  touch -t "$old_timestamp" "./backups/fake-backup-preserve.tgz"
+  touch -t "$old_timestamp" "./backups/fake-backup.tgz"
+
+  # Plus current preserved backup
+  docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml run --rm --build backup now > /dev/null
+   
+  preserved_backup_count=$(find backups/ -name "*.tgz" -name "*preserve*" | wc -l)
+  not_preserved_backup_count=$(find backups/ -name "*.tgz" -not -name "*preserve*" | wc -l)
+  
+  tree backups
+  
+  echo "Preserved backups: ${preserved_backup_count}"
+  echo "Not-Preserved backups: ${not_preserved_backup_count}"
+
+  # Ensure there's 
+  # 2 preserved (1 old + 1 new)
+  # 0 not preserved (1 pruned)
+  if [[ 2 -eq "$preserved_backup_count" && 0 -eq "$not_preserved_backup_count" ]]; then
+    echo "PASS"
+  else
+    echo "FAIL"
+    overall_status=1
+  fi
+}
+
+setup
+run_test1
+run_test2
+
+exit $overall_status
+
diff --git a/tests/skip-on-startup/test.skip-on-startup.sh b/tests/skip-on-startup/test.skip-on-startup.sh
index 96c46cd..9d39b20 100755
--- a/tests/skip-on-startup/test.skip-on-startup.sh
+++ b/tests/skip-on-startup/test.skip-on-startup.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+set -x
+WORKDIR="$(realpath "$(dirname "${0}")")"
+cd "${WORKDIR}/" || exit
+
 mkdir -p ./backups
 mkdir -p ./data
 
 get_backup_count() {
-  backup_count=$(ls -1 backups | wc -l)
+  backup_count=$(find backups/* -prune | wc -l)
   echo "Output: ${backup_count} backups"
 }
 
@@ -84,4 +88,3 @@ run_test2
 run_test3
 
 exit $overall_status
-
diff --git a/tests/test.simple.tar.sh b/tests/test.simple.tar.sh
index 9fac1d9..28311cd 100755
--- a/tests/test.simple.tar.sh
+++ b/tests/test.simple.tar.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 set -x
 
-WORKDIR="$(readlink -m "$(dirname "${0}")")"
+WORKDIR="$(realpath "$(dirname "${0}")")"
 
 cd "${WORKDIR}/.."
 
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ export RCON_PATH
 export PRUNE_BACKUPS_DAYS
 
 mkdir "${EXTRACT_DIR}"
-touch -d "$(( PRUNE_BACKUPS_DAYS + 2 )) days ago" "${LOCAL_DEST_DIR}/fake_backup_that_should_be_deleted.tgz"
+old_timestamp=$(TZ=UTC+96 date +%Y%m%d%H%M) # Two days old
+touch -t "$old_timestamp" "${LOCAL_DEST_DIR}/fake_backup_that_should_be_deleted.tgz"
 ls -al "${LOCAL_DEST_DIR}"
 
 timeout 50 docker run --rm \