diff --git a/remote-backup b/remote-backup
index e7a2c1c..0821fd0 100755
--- a/remote-backup
+++ b/remote-backup
@@ -65,17 +65,22 @@ source /etc/remote-backup.conf
 # ------------- the script itself --------------------------------------
 
 # make sure we're running as root
-if (( `$ID -u` != 0 )); then { $ECHO "Sorry, must be root.  Exiting..."; exit; } fi
-
-# attempt to remount the RW mount point as RW; else abort
-$MOUNT -o remount,rw $MOUNT_DEVICE $SNAPSHOT_RW ;
-if (( $? )); then
-{
-	$ECHO "snapshot: could not remount $SNAPSHOT_RW readwrite";
-	exit;
-}
-fi;
+if [ ! $UID -eq 0 ]
+then
+	$ECHO "Sorry, must be root.  Exiting..."
+	exit
+fi
 
+if [[ "$REMOUNT" == "true" ]]
+then
+	# attempt to remount the RW mount point as RW; else abort
+	$MOUNT -o remount,rw $MOUNT_DEVICE $SNAPSHOT_RW ;
+	if (( $? ))
+	then
+		$ECHO "snapshot: could not remount $SNAPSHOT_RW readwrite"
+		exit
+	fi
+fi
 
 # rotating snapshots of /home (fixme: this should be more general)