diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8f01770..7fe168c 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -12,8 +12,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
 SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 RUN wget -q https://github.com/gorcon/rcon-cli/releases/download/v0.10.3/rcon-0.10.3-amd64_linux.tar.gz -O - | tar -xz && \
     mv rcon-0.10.3-amd64_linux/rcon /usr/bin/rcon-cli && \
-    rmdir /tmp/dumps && \
-    rm -f /var/run/crond.pid
+    rmdir /tmp/dumps
 
 ENV PORT= \
     PUID=1000 \
diff --git a/scripts/init.sh b/scripts/init.sh
index 24c3fac..3c9a3f1 100644
--- a/scripts/init.sh
+++ b/scripts/init.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ term_handler() {
     tail --pid=$killpid -f 2>/dev/null
 }
 
+if [ "${BACKUP_ENABLED}" = true ]; then
+    service cron start
+fi
+
 trap 'term_handler' SIGTERM
 
 su steam -c ./start.sh &
diff --git a/scripts/start.sh b/scripts/start.sh
index 6aaa55b..c6176b8 100644
--- a/scripts/start.sh
+++ b/scripts/start.sh
@@ -289,16 +289,12 @@ if [ -n "${RCON_PORT}" ]; then
     sed -i "s/RCONPort=[0-9]*/RCONPort=$RCON_PORT/" /palworld/Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini
 fi
 
-if [ -n $BACKUP_ENABLED ]; then
+if [ "${BACKUP_ENABLED}" = true ]; then
     echo "BACKUP_ENABLED=${BACKUP_ENABLED}"
-
-    if [ $BACKUP_ENABLED = true ]; then
-        CRON_EXPRESSION=$([[ -n $BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION ]] && echo "$BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION" || echo "0 0 * * *")
-        echo "CRON_EXPRESSION=${CRON_EXPRESSION}"
-        echo "${CRON_EXPRESSION} root bash /usr/loca/bin/backup" > /etc/cron.d/backups-cron
-        chmod 0644 /etc/cron.d/backups-cron
-        cron /etc/cron.d/backups-cron
-    fi
+    
+    # Assuming BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION is set and is valid
+    echo "$BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION bash /usr/local/bin/backup  >/dev/null 2>&1" > "/home/steam/server/crontab"
+    crontab "/home/steam/server/crontab"
 fi
 
 # Configure RCON settings