diff --git a/lib/scanner/.gitignore b/lib/scanner/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..46765e06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/scanner/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+_random.data
diff --git a/lib/scanner/blocks.go b/lib/scanner/blocks.go
index c9051677..455aa4cb 100644
--- a/lib/scanner/blocks.go
+++ b/lib/scanner/blocks.go
@@ -20,15 +20,27 @@ var SHA256OfNothing = []uint8{0xe3, 0xb0, 0xc4, 0x42, 0x98, 0xfc, 0x1c, 0x14, 0x
 
 // Blocks returns the blockwise hash of the reader.
 func Blocks(r io.Reader, blocksize int, sizehint int64, counter *int64) ([]protocol.BlockInfo, error) {
-	var blocks []protocol.BlockInfo
-	if sizehint > 0 {
-		blocks = make([]protocol.BlockInfo, 0, int(sizehint/int64(blocksize)))
-	}
-	var offset int64
 	hf := sha256.New()
+	hashLength := hf.Size()
+
+	var blocks []protocol.BlockInfo
+	var hashes, thisHash []byte
+
+	if sizehint > 0 {
+		// Allocate contiguous blocks for the BlockInfo structures and their
+		// hashes once and for all.
+		numBlocks := int(sizehint / int64(blocksize))
+		blocks = make([]protocol.BlockInfo, 0, numBlocks)
+		hashes = make([]byte, 0, hashLength*numBlocks)
+	}
+
+	// A 32k buffer is used for copying into the hash function.
+	buf := make([]byte, 32<<10)
+
+	var offset int64
 	for {
-		lr := &io.LimitedReader{R: r, N: int64(blocksize)}
-		n, err := io.Copy(hf, lr)
+		lr := io.LimitReader(r, int64(blocksize))
+		n, err := copyBuffer(hf, lr, buf)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -41,11 +53,17 @@ func Blocks(r io.Reader, blocksize int, sizehint int64, counter *int64) ([]proto
 			atomic.AddInt64(counter, int64(n))
 		}
 
+		// Carve out a hash-sized chunk of "hashes" to store the hash for this
+		// block.
+		hashes = hf.Sum(hashes)
+		thisHash, hashes = hashes[:hashLength], hashes[hashLength:]
+
 		b := protocol.BlockInfo{
 			Size:   int32(n),
 			Offset: offset,
-			Hash:   hf.Sum(nil),
+			Hash:   thisHash,
 		}
+
 		blocks = append(blocks, b)
 		offset += int64(n)
 
@@ -158,3 +176,48 @@ func BlocksEqual(src, tgt []protocol.BlockInfo) bool {
 	}
 	return true
 }
+
+// This is a copy & paste of io.copyBuffer from the Go 1.5 standard library,
+// as we want this but also want to build with Go 1.3+.
+
+// copyBuffer is the actual implementation of Copy and CopyBuffer.
+// if buf is nil, one is allocated.
+func copyBuffer(dst io.Writer, src io.Reader, buf []byte) (written int64, err error) {
+	// If the reader has a WriteTo method, use it to do the copy.
+	// Avoids an allocation and a copy.
+	if wt, ok := src.(io.WriterTo); ok {
+		return wt.WriteTo(dst)
+	}
+	// Similarly, if the writer has a ReadFrom method, use it to do the copy.
+	if rt, ok := dst.(io.ReaderFrom); ok {
+		return rt.ReadFrom(src)
+	}
+	if buf == nil {
+		buf = make([]byte, 32*1024)
+	}
+	for {
+		nr, er := src.Read(buf)
+		if nr > 0 {
+			nw, ew := dst.Write(buf[0:nr])
+			if nw > 0 {
+				written += int64(nw)
+			}
+			if ew != nil {
+				err = ew
+				break
+			}
+			if nr != nw {
+				err = io.ErrShortWrite
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if er == io.EOF {
+			break
+		}
+		if er != nil {
+			err = er
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return written, err
+}
diff --git a/lib/scanner/walk_test.go b/lib/scanner/walk_test.go
index 45cc0e31..689f3fc5 100644
--- a/lib/scanner/walk_test.go
+++ b/lib/scanner/walk_test.go
@@ -8,13 +8,16 @@ package scanner
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"crypto/rand"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"runtime"
 	rdebug "runtime/debug"
 	"sort"
+	"sync"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/syncthing/syncthing/lib/ignore"
@@ -372,3 +375,39 @@ func TestSymlinkTypeEqual(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+var initOnce sync.Once
+
+const (
+	testdataSize = 17 << 20
+	testdataName = "_random.data"
+)
+
+func BenchmarkHashFile(b *testing.B) {
+	initOnce.Do(initTestFile)
+	b.ResetTimer()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		if _, err := HashFile(testdataName, protocol.BlockSize, testdataSize, nil); err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+}
+
+func initTestFile() {
+	fd, err := os.Create(testdataName)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	lr := io.LimitReader(rand.Reader, testdataSize)
+	if _, err := io.Copy(fd, lr); err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+
+	if err := fd.Close(); err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+}