The unix cp command makes you the owner of the copied files. You can set flags but this is supposedly a more complete way to keep any attributes.

<pre>
mkdir /var/backup/michael
cd /home/michael
tar cf - . | (cd /var/backup/michael && tar xBfp -)
</pre>

found @
http://info.michael-simons.eu/2007/03/18/copy-directories-and-preserve-permissions/