diff --git a/job_scripts/hpss/kronos_process.sh b/job_scripts/hpss/kronos_process.sh
index cec5972..4b1570c 100755
--- a/job_scripts/hpss/kronos_process.sh
+++ b/job_scripts/hpss/kronos_process.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ set -e
 jobidfile=process.jobid
 
 
-# set the prefix of the plotfiles and checkpoint files (passed to find(1) -name)
+# set the prefix of the plotfiles and checkpoint files (a fnmatch(3) pattern)
 plt_prefix='*plt'
 chk_prefix='*chk'
 
@@ -53,14 +53,19 @@ echo "$SLURM_JOB_ID" > "$jobidfile"
 
 # if our process is killed, remove the lock file first
 function cleanup() {
-  echo "process: received signal; removing $jobidfile"
+  echo "process: removing $jobidfile"
   command rm -f "$jobidfile"
   # remove the EXIT handler, since we only want to do this once
   trap - EXIT
   # don't exit, so we can finish the current operation:
   # $jobidfile is checked at the start of each loop iteration in process_files()
 }
-trap cleanup EXIT HUP INT QUIT TERM XCPU
+function cleanup_killed() {
+  echo "process: received signal; stopping"
+  cleanup
+}
+trap cleanup_killed HUP INT QUIT TERM XCPU
+trap cleanup EXIT
 
 # Number of seconds to sleep before checking again.
 N=60
@@ -100,78 +105,95 @@ fi
 # Subsequent invocations of this routine will skip over any plotfiles or
 # checkpoint files that have a corresponding .processed file.
 
-
-function process_files
+# this function does all the actual data transfer, and is run in parallel
+function process_single_file
 {
-  if [ ! -f "$jobidfile" ]; then
-    echo "process: $jobidfile has been removed, exiting"
+  local dir=$1
+  local job_slot=$2
+
+  local done_dir
+  # right-hand side is not quoted, as we want it to be treated as a pattern
+  if [[ $dir == ${plt_prefix}* ]]; then
+    done_dir=plotfiles
+  elif [[ $dir == ${chk_prefix}* ]]; then
+    done_dir=checkfiles
+  fi
+
+  if ! [[ -f "$jobidfile" ]]; then
+    echo "$job_slot | process: $jobidfile has been removed, exiting"
     exit
   fi
+  if [[ -d "${dir}" ]]; then
 
-  # plotfiles
+    # only work on the file if there is not a .processed file in the
+    # main directory or the plotfiles/ directory
+    if ! [[ -f "${dir}.processed" ]] && ! [[ -f "${done_dir}/${dir}.processed" ]]; then
 
-  # Take all but the final plt file -- we want to ensure they're completely
-  # written to disk.  Strip out any tar files that are lying around as well
-  # as pltXXXXX.processed files.  We restrict the find command to a depth of
-  # 1 to avoid catching any already-processed files in the plotfiles/
-  # directory
-  mapfile -t pltlist < <(
-    find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${plt_prefix}"'?????' -print | sort
-    find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${plt_prefix}"'??????' -print | sort
-    find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${plt_prefix}"'???????' -print | sort
-  )
+      # do processing
+      printf '%2d | archiving %s to Kronos\n' "$job_slot" "$dir"
 
-  if (( ${#pltlist[@]} > 1 )); then
-    # Don't process the final plt file
-    unset 'pltlist[-1]'
+      # store the file on Kronos
+      if tar -cvf "${KRONOS_DIR}/${dir}.tar" "${dir}" > "${dir}.log"; then
 
-    for dir in "${pltlist[@]}"
-    do
-      if ! [[ -f "$jobidfile" ]]; then
-        echo "process: $jobidfile has been removed, exiting"
-        exit
-      fi
-      if [[ -d "${dir}" ]]; then
+        # mark this file as processed so we skip it next time
+        date > "${dir}.processed"
 
-        # only work on the file if there is not a .processed file in the
-        # main directory or the plotfiles/ directory
-        if ! [[ -f "${dir}.processed" ]] && ! [[ -f "plotfiles/${dir}.processed" ]]; then
+        if [[ $done_dir == plotfiles ]]; then
+          # output the plotfile name and simulation time to ftime.out
+          # TODO: we should update this file in diag_files_${datestr}.tar
+          if command -v "${FTIME_EXE}" > /dev/null; then
+            "${FTIME_EXE}" "${dir}" >> ftime.out
+          fi
+        fi
 
-          # do processing
-          echo "archiving ${dir} to Kronos"
+        # store the log file along with the archive
+        mv "${dir}.log" "${KRONOS_DIR}"
 
-          # store the file on Kronos
-          if tar -cvf "${KRONOS_DIR}/${dir}.tar" "${dir}" > "${dir}.log"; then
+        # move the file into the transferred directory
+        mv "${dir}" "$done_dir"
 
-            # mark this file as processed so we skip it next time
-            date > "${dir}.processed"
+        # ..and the corresponding .processed file too.
+        mv "${dir}.processed" "$done_dir"
 
-            # output the plotfile name and simulation time to ftime.out
-            # TODO: we should update this file in diag_files_${datestr}.tar
-            if command -v "${FTIME_EXE}" > /dev/null; then
-              "${FTIME_EXE}" "${dir}" >> ftime.out
-            fi
+        #if [[ $done_dir == plotfiles ]]; then
+        #  # and visualize it
+        #  runtimevis.py "${done_dir}/${dir}"
+        #fi
 
-            # store the log file along with the archive
-            mv "${dir}.log" "${KRONOS_DIR}"
+      fi
 
-            # move the plotfile into the plotfiles directory
-            mv "${dir}" plotfiles/
+      printf '%2d | done with %s\n' "$job_slot" "$dir"
 
-            # ..and the corresponding .processed file too.
-            mv "${dir}.processed" plotfiles/
+    fi   # end test of whether file already processed
 
-            # and visualize it
-            #runtimevis.py "plotfiles/${dir}"
+  fi   # end test of whether file is a directory (as it should be)
+}
 
-          fi
+# these are needed for GNU parallel
+export jobidfile plt_prefix chk_prefix FTIME_EXE KRONOS_DIR
+export -f process_single_file
 
-        fi   # end test of whether plotfile already processed
+function process_files
+{
+  if [ ! -f "$jobidfile" ]; then
+    echo "process: $jobidfile has been removed, exiting"
+    exit
+  fi
 
-      fi   # end test of whether plotfile is a directory (as it should be)
+  # plotfiles
 
-    done
-  fi
+  # Take all but the final plt file -- we want to ensure they're completely
+  # written to disk.  Strip out any tar files that are lying around as well
+  # as pltXXXXX.processed files.  We restrict the find command to a depth of
+  # 1 to avoid catching any already-processed files in the plotfiles/
+  # directory
+  mapfile -t pltlist < <(
+    {
+      find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${plt_prefix}"'?????' -print | sort;
+      find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${plt_prefix}"'??????' -print | sort;
+      find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "${plt_prefix}"'???????' -print | sort;
+    } | head -n-1 # don't process the final plotfile
+  )
 
 
   # checkpoint files
@@ -182,49 +204,17 @@ function process_files
   # 1 to avoid catching any already-processed files in the checkfiles/
   # directory
   mapfile -t chklist < <(
-    find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -path "${chk_prefix}"'?[05]000/Header' -printf '%h\n' | sort
-    find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -path "${chk_prefix}"'??[05]000/Header' -printf '%h\n' | sort
-    find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -path "${chk_prefix}"'???[05]000/Header' -printf '%h\n' | sort
+    {
+      find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -path "${chk_prefix}"'??000/Header' -printf '%h\n' | sort
+      find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -path "${chk_prefix}"'???000/Header' -printf '%h\n' | sort
+      find . -maxdepth 2 -type f -path "${chk_prefix}"'????000/Header' -printf '%h\n' | sort
+    } | head -n-1 # don't process the final checkpoint file
   )
 
-  if (( ${#chklist[@]} > 1 )); then
-    # Don't process the final chk file
-    unset 'chklist[-1]'
-
-    for dir in "${chklist[@]}"
-    do
-      if ! [[ -f "$jobidfile" ]]; then
-        echo "process: $jobidfile has been removed, exiting"
-        exit
-      fi
-      if [[ -d "${dir}" ]]; then
-
-        if ! [[ -f "${dir}.processed" ]] && ! [[ -f "checkfiles/${dir}.processed" ]]; then
 
-          echo "archiving ${dir} to Kronos"
-
-          # store the file on Kronos
-          if tar -cvf "${KRONOS_DIR}/${dir}.tar" "${dir}" > "${dir}.log"; then
-
-            # mark this file as processed so we skip it next time
-            date > "${dir}.processed"
-
-            # store the log file along with the archive
-            mv "${dir}.log" "${KRONOS_DIR}"
-
-            # move the checkpoint file into the checkfiles directory
-            mv "${dir}" checkfiles/
-
-            # ..and the corresponding .processed file too.
-            mv "${dir}.processed" checkfiles/
-
-          fi
-
-        fi
-
-      fi
-    done
-  fi
+  # do the archiving in parallel
+  # use --line-buffer so the start and finish lines are interleaved properly
+  parallel --line-buffer -j 32 process_single_file '{}' '{%}' ::: "${pltlist[@]}" "${chklist[@]}"
 
 }