diff --git a/cmd/metha-sync/main.go b/cmd/metha-sync/main.go
index 23701a85..5b65309e 100644
--- a/cmd/metha-sync/main.go
+++ b/cmd/metha-sync/main.go
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ var (
 	extraHeaders               xflag.Array // Extra HTTP header.
 	timeout                    = flag.Duration("T", 30*time.Second, "http client timeout")
 	maxRetries                 = flag.Int("r", 10, "max number of retries")
+	keepTemporaryFiles         = flag.Bool("k", false, "keep temporary files when interrupted")
 )
 
 func main() {
@@ -123,6 +124,7 @@ func main() {
 	harvest.DailyInterval = *daily
 	harvest.ExtraHeaders = extra
 	harvest.Delay = *delay
+	harvest.KeepTemporaryFiles = *keepTemporaryFiles
 	log.Printf("harvest: %+v", harvest)
 	if *removeCached {
 		log.Printf("removing already cached files from %s", harvest.Dir())
diff --git a/harvest.go b/harvest.go
index 25374ec4..00331cb8 100644
--- a/harvest.go
+++ b/harvest.go
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ type Harvest struct {
 	HourlyInterval             bool
 	DailyInterval              bool
 	ExtraHeaders               http.Header
+	KeepTemporaryFiles         bool
 
 	Delay int
 
@@ -143,6 +144,11 @@ func (h *Harvest) temporaryFilesSuffix(suffix string) []string {
 
 // cleanupTemporaryFiles will remove all temporary files in the harvesting dir.
 func (h *Harvest) cleanupTemporaryFiles() error {
+	if h.KeepTemporaryFiles {
+		log.Printf("keeping %d temporary file(s) under %s",
+			len(h.temporaryFiles()), h.Dir())
+		return nil
+	}
 	for _, filename := range h.temporaryFiles() {
 		if err := os.Remove(filename); err != nil {
 			if e, ok := err.(*os.PathError); ok && e.Err == syscall.ENOENT {