diff --git a/storage/types.go b/storage/types.go
index d8539d02dc..4b28fa09a5 100644
--- a/storage/types.go
+++ b/storage/types.go
@@ -165,12 +165,12 @@ func NewNodeIDFromPrefix(prefix []byte, depth int, index int64, subDepth, totalD
 	}
 }
 
-// NewNodeIDFromBigInt returns a NodeID of a big.Int with no prefix.
+// newNodeIDFromBigIntOld returns a NodeID of a big.Int with no prefix.
 // index contains the path's least significant bits.
 // depth indicates the number of bits from the most significant bit to treat as part of the path.
-func NewNodeIDFromBigInt(depth int, index *big.Int, totalDepth int) NodeID {
+func newNodeIDFromBigIntOld(depth int, index *big.Int, totalDepth int) NodeID {
 	if got, want := totalDepth%8, 0; got != want || got < want {
-		panic(fmt.Sprintf("storage NewNodeFromBitInt(): totalDepth mod 8: %v, want %v", got, want))
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("storage NewNodeFromBitIntOld(): totalDepth mod 8: %v, want %v", got, want))
 	}
 
 	// TODO(al): We _could_ use Bits() and avoid the extra copy/alloc.
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ func NewNodeIDFromBigInt(depth int, index *big.Int, totalDepth int) NodeID {
 
 	// TODO(gdbelvin): consider masking off insignificant bits past depth.
 	if glog.V(5) {
-		glog.Infof("NewNodeIDFromBigInt(%v, %x, %v): %v, %x",
+		glog.Infof("NewNodeIDFromBigIntOld(%v, %x, %v): %v, %x",
 			depth, b, totalDepth, depth, path)
 	}
 
@@ -192,6 +192,46 @@ func NewNodeIDFromBigInt(depth int, index *big.Int, totalDepth int) NodeID {
 	}
 }
 
+func NewNodeIDFromBigInt(depth int, index *big.Int, totalDepth int) NodeID {
+	if got, want := totalDepth%8, 0; got != want {
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("storage NewNodeFromBitInt(): totalDepth mod 8: %v, want %v", got, want))
+	}
+
+	if totalDepth == 0 {
+		panic("storage NewNodeFromBitInt(): totalDepth must not be zero")
+	}
+
+	// Put index in the LSB bits of path.
+	// This code more-or-less pinched from nat.go in the golang math/big package:
+	const _S = bits.UintSize / 8
+	path := make([]byte, totalDepth/8)
+
+	iBits := index.Bits()
+	i := len(path)
+loop:
+	for _, d := range iBits {
+		for j := 0; j < _S; j++ {
+			i--
+			if i < 0 {
+				break loop
+			}
+			path[i] = byte(d)
+			d >>= 8
+		}
+	}
+
+	// TODO(gdbelvin): consider masking off insignificant bits past depth.
+	if glog.V(5) {
+		glog.Infof("NewNodeIDFromBigInt(%v, %x, %v): %v, %x",
+			depth, index, totalDepth, depth, path)
+	}
+
+	return NodeID{
+		Path:          path,
+		PrefixLenBits: depth,
+	}
+}
+
 // BigInt returns the big.Int for this node.
 func (n NodeID) BigInt() *big.Int {
 	return new(big.Int).SetBytes(n.Path)
diff --git a/storage/types_test.go b/storage/types_test.go
index 1264d7f375..a88633f047 100644
--- a/storage/types_test.go
+++ b/storage/types_test.go
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ func TestNewNodeIDFromBigInt(t *testing.T) {
 		// We should be able to get the same big.Int back. This is used in
 		// the HStar2 implementation so should be tested.
 		if got, want := n.BigInt(), tc.index; want.Cmp(got) != 0 {
-			t.Errorf("NewNodeIDFromBigInt(%v, %x, %v): got: %v, want: %v",
+			t.Errorf("NewNodeIDFromBigInt(%v, %x, %v):got:\n%v, want:\n%v",
 				tc.depth, tc.index.Bytes(), tc.totalDepth, got, want)
 		}
 	}
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ func TestNewNodeIDFromBigIntPanic(t *testing.T) {
 			defer func() {
 				got := recover()
 				if (got != nil && !want) || (got == nil && want) {
-					t.Errorf("Incorrect panic behaviour got: %v, want: %v", got, want)
+					t.Errorf("Incorrect panic behaviour (b=%d) got: %v, want: %v", b, got, want)
 				}
 			}()
 			_ = NewNodeIDFromBigInt(12, big.NewInt(234), b)
@@ -892,3 +892,18 @@ func BenchmarkSuffix(b *testing.B) {
 		_ = n.Suffix(10, 176)
 	}
 }
+
+func runBenchmarkNewNodeIDFromBigInt(b *testing.B, f func(int, *big.Int, int) NodeID) {
+	b.Helper()
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		_ = f(256, new(big.Int).SetBytes(h2b("00")), 256)
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkNewNodeIDFromBigIntOld(b *testing.B) {
+	runBenchmarkNewNodeIDFromBigInt(b, newNodeIDFromBigIntOld)
+}
+
+func BenchmarkNewNodeIDFromBigIntNew(b *testing.B) {
+	runBenchmarkNewNodeIDFromBigInt(b, NewNodeIDFromBigInt)
+}