diff --git a/builtin/add.c b/builtin/add.c
index a17484ba4980aa..077f5c171a90b5 100644
--- a/builtin/add.c
+++ b/builtin/add.c
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ int cmd_add(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	die_in_unpopulated_submodule(the_repository->index, prefix);
 	die_path_inside_submodule(the_repository->index, &pathspec);
 
-	enable_fscache(1);
+	enable_fscache(0);
 	/* We do not really re-read the index but update the up-to-date flags */
 	preload_index(the_repository->index, &pathspec, 0);
 
diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
index e19edfc0507f2f..44db2bae72a2f5 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ static int checkout_worktree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 	if (pc_workers > 1)
 		init_parallel_checkout();
 
-	enable_fscache(1);
+	enable_fscache(the_repository->index->cache_nr);
 	for (pos = 0; pos < the_repository->index->cache_nr; pos++) {
 		struct cache_entry *ce = the_repository->index->cache[pos];
 		if (ce->ce_flags & CE_MATCHED) {
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ static int checkout_worktree(const struct checkout_opts *opts,
 		errs |= run_parallel_checkout(&state, pc_workers, pc_threshold,
 					      NULL, NULL);
 	mem_pool_discard(&ce_mem_pool, should_validate_cache_entries());
-	enable_fscache(0);
+	disable_fscache();
 	remove_marked_cache_entries(the_repository->index, 1);
 	remove_scheduled_dirs();
 	errs |= finish_delayed_checkout(&state, opts->show_progress);
diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index 1f61c538faf84e..6a5266075a8ede 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1568,7 +1568,7 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		       PATHSPEC_PREFER_FULL,
 		       prefix, argv);
 
-	enable_fscache(1);
+	enable_fscache(0);
 	if (status_format != STATUS_FORMAT_PORCELAIN &&
 	    status_format != STATUS_FORMAT_PORCELAIN_V2)
 		progress_flag = REFRESH_PROGRESS;
@@ -1609,7 +1609,7 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	wt_status_print(&s);
 	wt_status_collect_free_buffers(&s);
 
-	enable_fscache(0);
+	disable_fscache();
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/compat/win32/fscache.c b/compat/win32/fscache.c
index 0f0225981ef4a4..bb485fad483ccf 100644
--- a/compat/win32/fscache.c
+++ b/compat/win32/fscache.c
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ static struct fsentry *fscache_get(struct fsentry *key)
  * Enables or disables the cache. Note that the cache is read-only, changes to
  * the working directory are NOT reflected in the cache while enabled.
  */
-int fscache_enable(int enable)
+int fscache_enable(int enable, size_t initial_size)
 {
 	int result;
 
@@ -421,7 +421,11 @@ int fscache_enable(int enable)
 		InitializeCriticalSection(&mutex);
 		lstat_requests = opendir_requests = 0;
 		fscache_misses = fscache_requests = 0;
-		hashmap_init(&map, (hashmap_cmp_fn) fsentry_cmp, NULL, 0);
+		/*
+		 * avoid having to rehash by leaving room for the parent dirs.
+		 * '4' was determined empirically by testing several repos
+		 */
+		hashmap_init(&map, (hashmap_cmp_fn) fsentry_cmp, NULL, initial_size * 4);
 		initialized = 1;
 	}
 
diff --git a/compat/win32/fscache.h b/compat/win32/fscache.h
index 2f06f8df97dcd0..d49c9381114da6 100644
--- a/compat/win32/fscache.h
+++ b/compat/win32/fscache.h
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 #ifndef FSCACHE_H
 #define FSCACHE_H
 
-int fscache_enable(int enable);
-#define enable_fscache(x) fscache_enable(x)
+int fscache_enable(int enable, size_t initial_size);
+#define enable_fscache(initial_size) fscache_enable(1, initial_size)
+#define disable_fscache() fscache_enable(0, 0)
 
 int fscache_enabled(const char *path);
 #define is_fscache_enabled(path) fscache_enabled(path)
diff --git a/fetch-pack.c b/fetch-pack.c
index 89279c73d6b05b..0af92b55882bfc 100644
--- a/fetch-pack.c
+++ b/fetch-pack.c
@@ -757,7 +757,7 @@ static void mark_complete_and_common_ref(struct fetch_negotiator *negotiator,
 	save_commit_buffer = 0;
 
 	trace2_region_enter("fetch-pack", "parse_remote_refs_and_find_cutoff", NULL);
-	enable_fscache(1);
+	enable_fscache(0);
 	for (ref = *refs; ref; ref = ref->next) {
 		struct commit *commit;
 
@@ -784,7 +784,7 @@ static void mark_complete_and_common_ref(struct fetch_negotiator *negotiator,
 		if (!cutoff || cutoff < commit->date)
 			cutoff = commit->date;
 	}
-	enable_fscache(0);
+	disable_fscache();
 	trace2_region_leave("fetch-pack", "parse_remote_refs_and_find_cutoff", NULL);
 
 	/*
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index 529ab6a9834f7f..7c5a95bc55403e 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -1537,6 +1537,10 @@ static inline int is_missing_file_error(int errno_)
 #define enable_fscache(x) /* noop */
 #endif
 
+#ifndef disable_fscache
+#define disable_fscache() /* noop */
+#endif
+
 #ifndef is_fscache_enabled
 #define is_fscache_enabled(path) (0)
 #endif
diff --git a/preload-index.c b/preload-index.c
index ec1d7b46d55fc0..93f74d44e2a023 100644
--- a/preload-index.c
+++ b/preload-index.c
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ void preload_index(struct index_state *index,
 		pthread_mutex_init(&pd.mutex, NULL);
 	}
 
-	enable_fscache(1);
+	enable_fscache(index->cache_nr);
 	for (i = 0; i < threads; i++) {
 		struct thread_data *p = data+i;
 		int err;
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ void preload_index(struct index_state *index,
 	trace2_data_intmax("index", NULL, "preload/sum_lstat", t2_sum_lstat);
 	trace2_region_leave("index", "preload", NULL);
 
-	enable_fscache(0);
+	disable_fscache();
 }
 
 int repo_read_index_preload(struct repository *repo,
diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index 009343eda25273..33ae3c30b68728 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -1530,7 +1530,7 @@ int refresh_index(struct index_state *istate, unsigned int flags,
 	typechange_fmt = in_porcelain ? "T\t%s\n" : "%s: needs update\n";
 	added_fmt      = in_porcelain ? "A\t%s\n" : "%s: needs update\n";
 	unmerged_fmt   = in_porcelain ? "U\t%s\n" : "%s: needs merge\n";
-	enable_fscache(1);
+	enable_fscache(0);
 	/*
 	 * Use the multi-threaded preload_index() to refresh most of the
 	 * cache entries quickly then in the single threaded loop below,
@@ -1625,7 +1625,7 @@ int refresh_index(struct index_state *istate, unsigned int flags,
 	display_progress(progress, istate->cache_nr);
 	stop_progress(&progress);
 	trace_performance_leave("refresh index");
-	enable_fscache(0);
+	disable_fscache();
 	return has_errors;
 }