diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index 880f627b4c..40dc4723b2 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -1721,33 +1721,6 @@ int read_index(struct index_state *istate)
 	return read_index_from(istate, get_index_file(), get_git_dir());
 }
 
-static struct cache_entry *cache_entry_from_ondisk(struct mem_pool *mem_pool,
-						   struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk,
-						   unsigned int flags,
-						   const char *name,
-						   size_t len)
-{
-	struct cache_entry *ce = mem_pool__ce_alloc(mem_pool, len);
-
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.sec = get_be32(&ondisk->ctime.sec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.sec = get_be32(&ondisk->mtime.sec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.nsec = get_be32(&ondisk->ctime.nsec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.nsec = get_be32(&ondisk->mtime.nsec);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_dev   = get_be32(&ondisk->dev);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ino   = get_be32(&ondisk->ino);
-	ce->ce_mode  = get_be32(&ondisk->mode);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_uid   = get_be32(&ondisk->uid);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_gid   = get_be32(&ondisk->gid);
-	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_size  = get_be32(&ondisk->size);
-	ce->ce_flags = flags & ~CE_NAMEMASK;
-	ce->ce_namelen = len;
-	ce->index = 0;
-	hashcpy(ce->oid.hash, ondisk->sha1);
-	memcpy(ce->name, name, len);
-	ce->name[len] = '\0';
-	return ce;
-}
-
 /*
  * Adjacent cache entries tend to share the leading paths, so it makes
  * sense to only store the differences in later entries.  In the v4
@@ -1762,22 +1735,24 @@ static unsigned long expand_name_field(struct strbuf *name, const char *cp_)
 
 	if (name->len < len)
 		die("malformed name field in the index");
-	strbuf_remove(name, name->len - len, len);
-	for (ep = cp; *ep; ep++)
-		; /* find the end */
+	strbuf_setlen(name, name->len - len);
+	ep = cp + strlen((const char *)cp);
 	strbuf_add(name, cp, ep - cp);
 	return (const char *)ep + 1 - cp_;
 }
 
-static struct cache_entry *create_from_disk(struct mem_pool *mem_pool,
+static struct cache_entry *create_from_disk(struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool,
+					    unsigned int version,
 					    struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk,
 					    unsigned long *ent_size,
-					    struct strbuf *previous_name)
+					    const struct cache_entry *previous_ce)
 {
 	struct cache_entry *ce;
 	size_t len;
 	const char *name;
 	unsigned int flags;
+	size_t copy_len = 0;
+	int expand_name_field = version == 4;
 
 	/* On-disk flags are just 16 bits */
 	flags = get_be16(&ondisk->flags);
@@ -1797,21 +1772,50 @@ static struct cache_entry *create_from_disk(struct mem_pool *mem_pool,
 	else
 		name = ondisk->name;
 
-	if (!previous_name) {
-		/* v3 and earlier */
-		if (len == CE_NAMEMASK)
-			len = strlen(name);
-		ce = cache_entry_from_ondisk(mem_pool, ondisk, flags, name, len);
+	if (expand_name_field) {
+		const unsigned char *cp = (const unsigned char *)name;
+		size_t strip_len, previous_len;
 
-		*ent_size = ondisk_ce_size(ce);
-	} else {
-		unsigned long consumed;
-		consumed = expand_name_field(previous_name, name);
-		ce = cache_entry_from_ondisk(mem_pool, ondisk, flags,
-					     previous_name->buf,
-					     previous_name->len);
+		previous_len = previous_ce ? previous_ce->ce_namelen : 0;
+		strip_len = decode_varint(&cp);
+		if (previous_len < strip_len) {
+			if (previous_ce)
+				die(_("malformed name field in the index, near path '%s'"),
+				    previous_ce->name);
+			else
+				die(_("malformed name field in the index in the first path"));
+		}
+		copy_len = previous_len - strip_len;
+		name = (const char *)cp;
+	}
+
+	if (len == CE_NAMEMASK)
+		len = strlen(name) + copy_len;
+
+	ce = mem_pool__ce_alloc(ce_mem_pool, len);
+
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.sec = get_be32(&ondisk->ctime.sec);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.sec = get_be32(&ondisk->mtime.sec);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ctime.nsec = get_be32(&ondisk->ctime.nsec);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_mtime.nsec = get_be32(&ondisk->mtime.nsec);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_dev   = get_be32(&ondisk->dev);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_ino   = get_be32(&ondisk->ino);
+	ce->ce_mode  = get_be32(&ondisk->mode);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_uid   = get_be32(&ondisk->uid);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_gid   = get_be32(&ondisk->gid);
+	ce->ce_stat_data.sd_size  = get_be32(&ondisk->size);
+	ce->ce_flags = flags & ~CE_NAMEMASK;
+	ce->ce_namelen = len;
+	ce->index = 0;
+	hashcpy(ce->oid.hash, ondisk->sha1);
 
-		*ent_size = (name - ((char *)ondisk)) + consumed;
+	if (expand_name_field) {
+		memcpy(ce->name, previous_ce->name, copy_len);
+		memcpy(ce->name + copy_len, name, len + 1 - copy_len);
+		*ent_size = (name - ((char *)ondisk)) + len + 1 - copy_len;
+	} else {
+		memcpy(ce->name, name, len + 1);
+		*ent_size = ondisk_ce_size(ce);
 	}
 	return ce;
 }
@@ -1948,7 +1952,7 @@ static void *load_index_extensions(void *_data)
  */
 static unsigned long load_cache_entry_block(struct index_state *istate,
 			struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool, int offset, int nr, void *mmap,
-			unsigned long start_offset, struct strbuf *previous_name)
+			unsigned long start_offset, const struct cache_entry *previous_ce)
 {
 	int i;
 	unsigned long src_offset = start_offset;
@@ -1959,10 +1963,11 @@ static unsigned long load_cache_entry_block(struct index_state *istate,
 		unsigned long consumed;
 
 		disk_ce = (struct ondisk_cache_entry *)((char *)mmap + src_offset);
-		ce = create_from_disk(ce_mem_pool, disk_ce, &consumed, previous_name);
+		ce = create_from_disk(ce_mem_pool, istate->version, disk_ce, &consumed, previous_ce);
 		set_index_entry(istate, i, ce);
 
 		src_offset += consumed;
+		previous_ce = ce;
 	}
 	return src_offset - start_offset;
 }
@@ -1970,22 +1975,18 @@ static unsigned long load_cache_entry_block(struct index_state *istate,
 static unsigned long load_all_cache_entries(struct index_state *istate,
 			void *mmap, size_t mmap_size, unsigned long src_offset)
 {
-	struct strbuf previous_name_buf = STRBUF_INIT, *previous_name;
 	unsigned long consumed;
 
 	if (istate->version == 4) {
-		previous_name = &previous_name_buf;
 		mem_pool_init(&istate->ce_mem_pool,
 				estimate_cache_size_from_compressed(istate->cache_nr));
 	} else {
-		previous_name = NULL;
 		mem_pool_init(&istate->ce_mem_pool,
 				estimate_cache_size(mmap_size, istate->cache_nr));
 	}
 
 	consumed = load_cache_entry_block(istate, istate->ce_mem_pool,
-					0, istate->cache_nr, mmap, src_offset, previous_name);
-	strbuf_release(&previous_name_buf);
+					0, istate->cache_nr, mmap, src_offset, NULL);
 	return consumed;
 }
 
@@ -2007,8 +2008,7 @@ struct load_cache_entries_thread_data
 	int offset, nr;
 	void *mmap;
 	unsigned long start_offset;
-	struct strbuf previous_name_buf;
-	struct strbuf *previous_name;
+	struct cache_entry *previous_ce;
 	unsigned long consumed;	/* return # of bytes in index file processed */
 };
 
@@ -2021,7 +2021,7 @@ static void *load_cache_entries_thread(void *_data)
 	struct load_cache_entries_thread_data *p = _data;
 
 	p->consumed += load_cache_entry_block(p->istate, p->ce_mem_pool,
-		p->offset, p->nr, p->mmap, p->start_offset, p->previous_name);
+		p->offset, p->nr, p->mmap, p->start_offset, p->previous_ce);
 	return NULL;
 }
 
@@ -2068,20 +2068,23 @@ static unsigned long load_cache_entries_threaded(int nr_threads, struct index_st
 			p->istate = istate;
 			p->offset = i;
 			p->nr = ce_per_thread < istate->cache_nr - i ? ce_per_thread : istate->cache_nr - i;
+			p->mmap = mmap;
+			p->start_offset = src_offset;
 
 			/* create a mem_pool for each thread */
-			if (istate->version == 4)
+			if (istate->version == 4) {
 				mem_pool_init(&p->ce_mem_pool,
 					estimate_cache_size_from_compressed(p->nr));
-			else
+
+				/* create a previous ce entry for this block of cache entries */
+				if (previous_name->len) {
+					p->previous_ce = mem_pool__ce_alloc(p->ce_mem_pool, previous_name->len);
+					p->previous_ce->ce_namelen = previous_name->len;
+					memcpy(p->previous_ce->name, previous_name->buf, previous_name->len);
+				}
+			} else {
 				mem_pool_init(&p->ce_mem_pool,
 					estimate_cache_size(mmap_size, p->nr));
-
-			p->mmap = mmap;
-			p->start_offset = src_offset;
-			if (previous_name) {
-				strbuf_addbuf(&p->previous_name_buf, previous_name);
-				p->previous_name = &p->previous_name_buf;
 			}
 
 			if (pthread_create(&p->pthread, NULL, load_cache_entries_thread, p))
@@ -2104,7 +2107,7 @@ static unsigned long load_cache_entries_threaded(int nr_threads, struct index_st
 		} else
 			name = ondisk->name;
 
-		if (!previous_name) {
+		if (istate->version != 4) {
 			size_t len;
 
 			/* v3 and earlier */
@@ -2123,7 +2126,6 @@ static unsigned long load_cache_entries_threaded(int nr_threads, struct index_st
 		if (pthread_join(p->pthread, NULL))
 			die("unable to join load_cache_entries_thread");
 		mem_pool_combine(istate->ce_mem_pool, p->ce_mem_pool);
-		strbuf_release(&p->previous_name_buf);
 		consumed += p->consumed;
 	}
 
