diff --git a/vackup b/vackup
index d2da5a7..7cb2125 100755
--- a/vackup
+++ b/vackup
@@ -78,6 +78,19 @@ error() {
     handle_error $LINE_NUMBER $CODE
 }
 
+fulldirname() {
+  DIRECTORY=$(dirname "$1")
+
+  case "$DIRECTORY" in
+    /*) ;;
+    .*) ;& # fallthrough
+    *) DIRECTORY="$(pwd)/$DIRECTORY" ;;
+  esac
+  DIRECTORY=$(readlink -m "$DIRECTORY")
+
+  echo "$DIRECTORY"
+}
+
 if [ -z "$1" ] || [ "$1" == "-h" ] || [ "$1" == "--help" ]; then
     usage
     exit 0
@@ -98,12 +111,13 @@ cmd_export() {
 
 # TODO: check if file exists on host, if it does
 # create a option for overwrite and check if that's set
-# TODO: if FILE_NAME starts with / we need to error out
-# unless we can translate full file paths
+
+    DIRECTORY=$(fulldirname "$FILE_NAME")
+    FILE_NAME=$(basename "$FILE_NAME")
 
     if ! docker run --rm \
       -v "$VOLUME_NAME":/vackup-volume \
-      -v "$(pwd)":/vackup \
+      -v "$DIRECTORY":/vackup \
       busybox \
       tar -zcvf /vackup/"$FILE_NAME" /vackup-volume;
     then
@@ -137,12 +151,12 @@ cmd_import() {
         exit 1
     fi
 
-# TODO: if FILE_NAME starts with / we need to error out
-# unless we can translate full file paths
+    DIRECTORY=$(fulldirname "$FILE_NAME")
+    FILE_NAME=$(basename "$FILE_NAME")
 
     if ! docker run --rm \
       -v "$VOLUME_NAME":/vackup-volume \
-      -v "$(pwd)":/vackup \
+      -v "$DIRECTORY":/vackup \
       busybox \
       tar -xvzf /vackup/"$FILE_NAME" -C /;
     then