diff --git a/buildSrc/src/integTest/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPluginFuncTest.groovy b/buildSrc/src/integTest/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPluginFuncTest.groovy
index 424b9297a1b..e67e0d59f88 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/integTest/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPluginFuncTest.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/integTest/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPluginFuncTest.groovy
@@ -99,11 +99,14 @@ class InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPluginFuncTest extends AbstractGradleFuncT
         import org.gradle.api.artifacts.type.ArtifactTypeDefinition;
         import org.gradle.api.internal.artifacts.ArtifactAttributes;
 
+        def snapshotFile = file("snapshot-\${version}.txt")
+        snapshotFile << 'some snapshot content'
         distribution_archives {
             producerTar {
                 content {
                     project.copySpec {
                         from 'someFile.txt'
+                        from snapshotFile
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -134,19 +137,27 @@ class InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPluginFuncTest extends AbstractGradleFuncT
         when:
         def result = gradleRunner("copyArchive").build()
 
-        then:"tar task executed and target folder contains plain tar"
+        then: "tar task executed and target folder contains plain tar"
         result.task(':buildProducerTar').outcome == TaskOutcome.SUCCESS
         result.task(':consumer:copyArchive').outcome == TaskOutcome.SUCCESS
         file("producer-tar/build/distributions/elasticsearch.tar.gz").exists()
         file("consumer/build/archives/elasticsearch.tar.gz").exists()
 
         when:
-        result = gradleRunner("copyDir").build()
-        then:"plain copy task executed and target folder contains plain content"
+        result = gradleRunner("copyDir", "-Pversion=1.0").build()
+        then: "plain copy task executed and target folder contains plain content"
         result.task(':buildProducer').outcome == TaskOutcome.SUCCESS
         result.task(':consumer:copyDir').outcome == TaskOutcome.SUCCESS
         file("producer-tar/build/install/someFile.txt").exists()
+        file("producer-tar/build/install/snapshot-1.0.txt").exists()
         file("consumer/build/dir/someFile.txt").exists()
+
+        when:
+        gradleRunner("copyDir", "-Pversion=2.0").build()
+        then: "old content is cleared out"
+        file("producer-tar/build/install/someFile.txt").exists()
+        !file("producer-tar/build/install/snapshot-1.0.txt").exists()
+        file("producer-tar/build/install/snapshot-2.0.txt").exists()
     }
 
     private static boolean assertTarPermissionDefaults(File tarArchive) {
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/DistributionArchive.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/DistributionArchive.java
index cad21e74289..bd8b68f9646 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/DistributionArchive.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/DistributionArchive.java
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.gradle.internal;
 
 import org.gradle.api.Named;
 import org.gradle.api.file.CopySpec;
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.Copy;
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.Sync;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskProvider;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.bundling.AbstractArchiveTask;
 
@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@ import java.util.function.Supplier;
 public class DistributionArchive implements Named {
 
     private TaskProvider<? extends AbstractArchiveTask> archiveTask;
-    private TaskProvider<Copy> expandedDistTask;
+    private TaskProvider<Sync> expandedDistTask;
     private final String name;
 
-    public DistributionArchive(TaskProvider<? extends AbstractArchiveTask> archiveTask, TaskProvider<Copy> expandedDistTask, String name) {
+    public DistributionArchive(TaskProvider<? extends AbstractArchiveTask> archiveTask, TaskProvider<Sync> expandedDistTask, String name) {
         this.archiveTask = archiveTask;
         this.expandedDistTask = expandedDistTask;
         this.name = name;
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public class DistributionArchive implements Named {
         return archiveTask;
     }
 
-    public TaskProvider<Copy> getExpandedDistTask() {
+    public TaskProvider<Sync> getExpandedDistTask() {
         return expandedDistTask;
     }
 }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPlugin.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPlugin.java
index 54c23bc5770..8a4d61c2653 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPlugin.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/internal/InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPlugin.java
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import org.gradle.api.Project;
 import org.gradle.api.artifacts.type.ArtifactTypeDefinition;
 import org.gradle.api.plugins.BasePlugin;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.AbstractCopyTask;
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.Copy;
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.Sync;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskContainer;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.bundling.AbstractArchiveTask;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.bundling.Compression;
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public class InternalDistributionArchiveSetupPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
             var subProjectDir = archiveToSubprojectName(name);
             var copyDistributionTaskName = "build" + capitalize(name.substring(0, name.length() - 3));
             TaskContainer tasks = project.getTasks();
-            var explodedDist = tasks.register(copyDistributionTaskName, Copy.class, copy -> copy.into(subProjectDir + "/build/install/"));
+            var explodedDist = tasks.register(copyDistributionTaskName, Sync.class, sync -> sync.into(subProjectDir + "/build/install/"));
             var archiveTaskName = "build" + capitalize(name);
             return name.endsWith("Tar")
                 ? new DistributionArchive(tasks.register(archiveTaskName, SymbolicLinkPreservingTar.class), explodedDist, name)