diff --git a/tests/golden/restore_copy b/tests/golden/restore_copy
index 186b7e0d..a3144fec 100644
--- a/tests/golden/restore_copy
+++ b/tests/golden/restore_copy
@@ -35,10 +35,10 @@ srwxr-xr-x. 1     0     0        0  s
 prw-r--r--. 1     0     0        0  p
 -rwsrwsrwx. 1     0     0        0  mode_t
 lrwxrwxrwx. 1     0     0        7  l -> broken
--rw-r--r--. 1     0     0        0  h
+-rw-r--r--. 2     0     0        0  h
 -rw-r--r--. 1     0     0   131072  falloc
 -rw-r--r--. 1     0     0     4096  f4096
--rw-r--r--. 1     0     0        0  f
+-rw-r--r--. 2     0     0        0  f
 drwxr-xr-x. 2     0     0        0  d
 crw-r--r--. 1     0     0     0, 0  c
 brw-r--r--. 1     0     0     1, 1  b
diff --git a/tests/src/restore_copy.c b/tests/src/restore_copy.c
index f474aa2d..f894bcfd 100644
--- a/tests/src/restore_copy.c
+++ b/tests/src/restore_copy.c
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@ static struct scoutfs_parallel_restore_inode *read_inode_data(char *path, u64 in
 	inode->ctime = st.st_ctim;
 	inode->mtime = st.st_mtim;
 	inode->size = st.st_size;
+	inode->nlink = st.st_nlink;
 
 	inode->rdev = st.st_rdev;
 
diff --git a/utils/src/parallel_restore.c b/utils/src/parallel_restore.c
index e575011c..8ca7fde4 100644
--- a/utils/src/parallel_restore.c
+++ b/utils/src/parallel_restore.c
@@ -813,7 +813,7 @@ static spr_err_t insert_inode_items(struct scoutfs_parallel_restore_writer *wri,
 	si->next_readdir_pos = 0;
 	si->next_xattr_id = cpu_to_le64(inode->nr_xattrs + 1);
 	si->version = cpu_to_le64(1);
-	si->nlink = cpu_to_le32(1);
+	si->nlink = cpu_to_le32(inode->nlink ? inode->nlink : 1);
 	si->uid = cpu_to_le32(inode->uid);
 	si->gid = cpu_to_le32(inode->gid);
 	si->mode = cpu_to_le32(inode->mode);
diff --git a/utils/src/parallel_restore.h b/utils/src/parallel_restore.h
index 51fcf4b2..8865e842 100644
--- a/utils/src/parallel_restore.h
+++ b/utils/src/parallel_restore.h
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ struct scoutfs_parallel_restore_inode {
 	u64 data_version;
 	u64 size;
 	bool offline;
+	u32 nlink;
 
 	/* only used for directories */
 	u64 nr_subdirs;