Changing file attributes

[Carlton Brooks]

Last week you helped me in backing up my OwnCloud installation on a 
Odroid using rsync. Actually I used scp because my testing of it worked 
better than rsync.

Now I have another problem and it has been happening for a while. I hope 
someone has a solution/answer.

In order to copy all files I chmod'ed all the files to 777. The scp copy 
started working well, then about 1/4 of the way through all the files 
reverted back to a 770, thus denying me permission. And failing.

I did an experiment over the last few day. I started changing 
permissions of the OwnCloud directory. After an hour or so the file 
settings changed.

What could be causing things to change and how to trace it.

Thanks
Carlton Brooks