diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b710dde7..f0c2eeda 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 build/
 dist/
+tests/test_follow_symlinks/
+tests/test_follow_symlinks_non_archived/
 zstash.egg-info/
 *.pyc
 *~
diff --git a/tests/follow_symlinks.sh b/tests/follow_symlinks.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1d85199e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/follow_symlinks.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+setup()
+{
+  echo "##########################################################################################################"
+  use_hpss=$1
+  follow_symlinks=$2
+  case_name="${3}"
+  archive_name=$4
+  if [[ "${use_hpss}" == "true" ]]; then
+      hsi rm -R ${archive_name}
+  fi
+  echo "use_hpss=${use_hpss}"
+  echo "follow_symlinks=${follow_symlinks}"
+  echo "case_name=${case_name}"
+  local_archive_name=test_follow_symlinks
+  non_archived_dir=${local_archive_name}_non_archived
+  test_dir=/global/homes/f/forsyth/zstash/tests
+  cd ${test_dir}
+  rm -rf ${local_archive_name}
+  rm -rf ${non_archived_dir}
+  mkdir ${local_archive_name}
+  # At the same level as local_archive_name
+  mkdir ${non_archived_dir}
+  cd ${local_archive_name}
+
+  mkdir zstash_demo
+  mkdir zstash_demo/empty_dir
+  mkdir zstash_demo/dir
+  mkdir non_archived
+  echo -n '' > zstash_demo/file_empty.txt
+  echo 'file0 stuff' > zstash_demo/dir/file0.txt
+  echo 'file1 stuff' > non_archived/file1.txt
+  echo 'file2 stuff' > ../${non_archived_dir}/file2.txt
+  # NOTE: `ln -s` appears to require absolute paths for the source files
+  ln -s ${test_dir}/${local_archive_name}/non_archived/file1.txt zstash_demo/file3.txt
+  ln -s ${test_dir}/${non_archived_dir}/file2.txt zstash_demo/file4.txt
+  cat zstash_demo/file3.txt
+  cat zstash_demo/file4.txt
+}
+
+zstash_create()
+{
+  archive_name=$1
+  follow_symlinks=$2
+  echo "Starting zstash create"
+  if [[ "${follow_symlinks}" == "true" ]]; then
+      zstash create --hpss=${archive_name} zstash_demo --follow-symlinks
+  else
+      zstash create --hpss=${archive_name} zstash_demo
+  fi
+}
+
+zstash_extract()
+{
+  archive_name=$1
+  mkdir zstash_extraction
+  cd zstash_extraction
+  if [[ "${archive_name}" == "none" ]]; then
+    echo "Copying zstash"
+    cp -r ../zstash_demo/zstash/ zstash
+  fi
+  echo "Starting zstash extract"
+  zstash extract --hpss=${archive_name}
+  cat file3.txt
+  cat file4.txt
+  echo "> ls"
+  ls
+  echo "> ls -l"
+  ls -l
+  echo "> zstash ls"
+  zstash ls --hpss=${archive_name}
+  echo "> zstash ls -l"
+  zstash ls -l --hpss=${archive_name}
+  cd ..
+}
+
+test_cases()
+{
+  use_hpss=$1
+  follow_symlinks=$2
+  if [[ "${use_hpss}" == "true" ]]; then
+      archive_name=/home/f/forsyth/zstash_test_follow_symlinks
+  else
+      archive_name=none
+  fi
+
+  case_name="Don't delete original file"
+  setup ${use_hpss} ${follow_symlinks} "${case_name}" ${archive_name}
+  zstash_create ${archive_name} ${follow_symlinks}
+  zstash_extract ${archive_name}
+
+  case_name="Delete before create"
+  setup ${use_hpss} ${follow_symlinks} "${case_name}" ${archive_name}
+  rm non_archived/file1.txt
+  rm ../run_n247_non_archived/file2.txt
+  zstash_create ${archive_name} ${follow_symlinks}
+  zstash_extract ${archive_name}
+
+  case_name="Delete after create"
+  setup ${use_hpss} ${follow_symlinks} "${case_name}" ${archive_name}
+  zstash_create ${archive_name} ${follow_symlinks}
+  rm non_archived/file1.txt
+  rm ../run_n247_non_archived/file2.txt
+  zstash_extract ${archive_name}
+
+}
+
+conda_env=zstash_dev_n247
+# Set up Conda
+source /global/homes/f/forsyth/miniconda3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
+conda activate ${conda_env}
+# Install branch
+cd /global/homes/f/forsyth/zstash
+pip install .
+# Begin tests
+test_cases true true # HPSS, follow symlinks
+test_cases false true # No HPSS, follow symlinks
+test_cases true false # HPSS, don't follow symlinks
+test_cases false false # No HPSS, don't follow symlinks
diff --git a/zstash/create.py b/zstash/create.py
index a80c1c16..78778eb3 100644
--- a/zstash/create.py
+++ b/zstash/create.py
@@ -153,6 +153,11 @@ def setup_create() -> Tuple[str, argparse.Namespace]:
         action="store_true",
         help="For testing/debugging only. Will not create the tars table or compute the hashes of the tars.",
     )
+    optional.add_argument(
+        "--follow-symlinks",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Hard copy symlinks. This is useful for preventing broken links. Note that a broken link will result in a failed create.",
+    )
     # Now that we're inside a subcommand, ignore the first two argvs
     # (zstash create)
     args: argparse.Namespace = parser.parse_args(sys.argv[2:])
@@ -234,16 +239,34 @@ def create_database(cache: str, args: argparse.Namespace) -> List[str]:
 
     files: List[str] = get_files_to_archive(cache, args.exclude)
 
-    # Add files to archive
-    failures: List[str] = add_files(
-        cur,
-        con,
-        -1,
-        files,
-        cache,
-        args.keep,
-        skip_tars_md5=args.no_tars_md5,
-    )
+    failures: List[str]
+    if args.follow_symlinks:
+        try:
+            # Add files to archive
+            failures = add_files(
+                cur,
+                con,
+                -1,
+                files,
+                cache,
+                args.keep,
+                args.follow_symlinks,
+                skip_tars_md5=args.no_tars_md5,
+            )
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            raise Exception("Archive creation failed due to broken symlink.")
+    else:
+        # Add files to archive
+        failures = add_files(
+            cur,
+            con,
+            -1,
+            files,
+            cache,
+            args.keep,
+            args.follow_symlinks,
+            skip_tars_md5=args.no_tars_md5,
+        )
 
     # Close database
     con.commit()
diff --git a/zstash/extract.py b/zstash/extract.py
index 452dc391..42a06dfb 100644
--- a/zstash/extract.py
+++ b/zstash/extract.py
@@ -241,6 +241,9 @@ def extract_database(
             else:
                 logger.info("No matches for {}".format(args_file))
 
+    if matches_ == []:
+        raise FileNotFoundError("There was nothing to extract.")
+
     matches: List[FilesRow] = list(map(lambda match: FilesRow(match), matches_))
 
     # Sort by the filename, tape (so the tar archive),
diff --git a/zstash/hpss_utils.py b/zstash/hpss_utils.py
index 44ba1008..8b9a5bbf 100644
--- a/zstash/hpss_utils.py
+++ b/zstash/hpss_utils.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, print_function
 
 import hashlib
+import os
 import os.path
+import shutil
 import sqlite3
 import tarfile
 import traceback
@@ -60,6 +62,7 @@ def add_files(
     files: List[str],
     cache: str,
     keep: bool,
+    follow_symlinks: bool,
     skip_tars_md5: bool = False,
 ) -> List[str]:
 
@@ -105,7 +108,7 @@ def add_files(
             size: int
             mtime: datetime
             md5: Optional[str]
-            offset, size, mtime, md5 = add_file(tar, current_file)
+            offset, size, mtime, md5 = add_file(tar, current_file, follow_symlinks)
             t: TupleFilesRowNoId = (
                 current_file,
                 size,
@@ -171,11 +174,15 @@ def add_files(
 # Add file to tar archive while computing its hash
 # Return file offset (in tar archive), size and md5 hash
 def add_file(
-    tar: tarfile.TarFile, file_name: str
+    tar: tarfile.TarFile, file_name: str, follow_symlinks: bool
 ) -> Tuple[int, int, datetime, Optional[str]]:
 
     # FIXME: error: "TarFile" has no attribute "offset"
     offset: int = tar.offset  # type: ignore
+    if follow_symlinks and os.path.islink(file_name):
+        linked_file_name = os.path.realpath(file_name)
+        os.remove(file_name)  # Remove symbolic link and create a hard copy
+        shutil.copy(linked_file_name, file_name)
     tarinfo: tarfile.TarInfo = tar.gettarinfo(file_name)
     # Change the size of any hardlinks from 0 to the size of the actual file
     if tarinfo.islnk():
diff --git a/zstash/ls.py b/zstash/ls.py
index b71e39cd..8b6ad6e4 100644
--- a/zstash/ls.py
+++ b/zstash/ls.py
@@ -100,8 +100,11 @@ def ls_database(args: argparse.Namespace, cache: str) -> List[FilesRow]:
                 hpss = config.hpss
             else:
                 raise TypeError("Invalid config.hpss={}".format(config.hpss))
-            # Retrieve from HPSS
-            hpss_get(hpss, get_db_filename(cache), cache)
+            try:
+                # Retrieve from HPSS
+                hpss_get(hpss, get_db_filename(cache), cache)
+            except RuntimeError:
+                raise FileNotFoundError("There was nothing to ls.")
         else:
             error_str: str = (
                 "--hpss argument is required when local copy of database is unavailable"
@@ -139,6 +142,9 @@ def ls_database(args: argparse.Namespace, cache: str) -> List[FilesRow]:
         )
         matches_ = matches_ + cur.fetchall()
 
+    if matches_ == []:
+        raise FileNotFoundError("There was nothing to ls.")
+
     # Remove duplicates
     matches_ = list(set(matches_))
     matches: List[FilesRow] = list(map(FilesRow, matches_))
diff --git a/zstash/update.py b/zstash/update.py
index a85cdac0..29910696 100644
--- a/zstash/update.py
+++ b/zstash/update.py
@@ -98,6 +98,11 @@ def setup_update() -> Tuple[argparse.Namespace, str]:
     optional.add_argument(
         "-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", help="increase output verbosity"
     )
+    optional.add_argument(
+        "--follow-symlinks",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Hard copy symlinks. This is useful for preventing broken links. Note that a broken link will result in a failed update.",
+    )
     args: argparse.Namespace = parser.parse_args(sys.argv[2:])
     if args.hpss and args.hpss.lower() == "none":
         args.hpss = "none"
@@ -112,7 +117,10 @@ def setup_update() -> Tuple[argparse.Namespace, str]:
     return args, cache
 
 
-def update_database(args: argparse.Namespace, cache: str) -> Optional[List[str]]:
+# C901 'update_database' is too complex (20)
+def update_database(  # noqa: C901
+    args: argparse.Namespace, cache: str
+) -> Optional[List[str]]:
     # Open database
     logger.debug("Opening index database")
     if not os.path.exists(get_db_filename(cache)):
@@ -226,8 +234,20 @@ def update_database(args: argparse.Namespace, cache: str) -> Optional[List[str]]
         tfile_string: str = tfile[0]
         itar = max(itar, int(tfile_string[0:6], 16))
 
-    # Add files
-    failures: List[str] = add_files(cur, con, itar, newfiles, cache, keep)
+    failures: List[str]
+    if args.follow_symlinks:
+        try:
+            # Add files
+            failures = add_files(
+                cur, con, itar, newfiles, cache, keep, args.follow_symlinks
+            )
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            raise Exception("Archive update failed due to broken symlink.")
+    else:
+        # Add files
+        failures = add_files(
+            cur, con, itar, newfiles, cache, keep, args.follow_symlinks
+        )
 
     # Close database
     con.commit()
diff --git a/zstash/utils.py b/zstash/utils.py
index a04a040d..877ad23c 100644
--- a/zstash/utils.py
+++ b/zstash/utils.py
@@ -46,9 +46,9 @@ def run_command(command: str, error_str: str):
     if status != 0:
         error_str = "Error={}, Command was `{}`".format(error_str, command)
         if "hsi" in command:
-            error_str = "{}. This command includes `hsi`. Be sure that you have logged into `hsi`.".format(
-                error_str
-            )
+            error_str = f"{error_str}. This command includes `hsi`. Be sure that you have logged into `hsi`"
+        if "cd" in command:
+            error_str = f"{error_str}. This command includes `cd`. Check that this directory exists and contains the needed files"
         logger.error(error_str)
         logger.debug("stdout:\n{!r}".format(stdout))
         logger.debug("stderr:\n{!r}".format(stderr))