diff --git a/kmod/src/data.c b/kmod/src/data.c
index bc573bfc..ca437490 100644
--- a/kmod/src/data.c
+++ b/kmod/src/data.c
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ static int try_merge(struct super_block *sb, struct native_extent *cur,
 	ext.flags = 0;
 	init_extent_key(&key, key_bytes, &ext, arg, type);
 
-	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 	if (ret < 0) {
 		if (ret == -ENOENT)
 			ret = 0;
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ static int remove_extent(struct super_block *sb,
 
 	/* find outer existing extent that contains removal extent */
 	init_extent_key(&key, key_bytes, rem, arg, type);
-	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 	if (ret)
 		goto out;
 
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ int scoutfs_data_truncate_items(struct super_block *sb, u64 ino, u64 iblock,
 		init_extent_key(&key, key_bytes, &rng, ino,
 				SCOUTFS_FILE_EXTENT_TYPE);
 
-		ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+		ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 		if (ret < 0) {
 			if (ret == -ENOENT)
 				ret = 0;
@@ -797,7 +797,7 @@ retry:
 	init_extent_key(&key, key_bytes, &ext, sbi->node_id, type);
 	init_extent_key(&last, last_bytes, &last_ext, sbi->node_id, type);
 
-	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 	if (ret < 0) {
 		if (ret == -ENOENT) {
 			/* if the cursor's empty fall back to next large */
@@ -966,7 +966,7 @@ static int scoutfs_get_block(struct inode *inode, sector_t iblock,
 	 * item consistency.
 	 */
 	down_read(&datinf->alloc_rwsem);
-	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+	ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 	up_read(&datinf->alloc_rwsem);
 	if (ret < 0) {
 		if (ret == -ENOENT)
@@ -1146,7 +1146,7 @@ int scoutfs_data_fiemap(struct inode *inode, struct fiemap_extent_info *fieinfo,
 		ext.flags = 0;
 		init_extent_key(&key, key_bytes, &ext, ino, type);
 
-		ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+		ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 		if (ret < 0) {
 			if (ret != -ENOENT)
 				break;
diff --git a/kmod/src/dir.c b/kmod/src/dir.c
index 4dc5b3da..55909f8f 100644
--- a/kmod/src/dir.c
+++ b/kmod/src/dir.c
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ static int scoutfs_readdir(struct file *file, void *dirent, filldir_t filldir)
 
 		scoutfs_kvec_init(val, dent, item_len);
 		ret = scoutfs_item_next_same_min(sb, &key, &last_key, val,
-				offsetof(struct scoutfs_dirent, name[1]));
+				offsetof(struct scoutfs_dirent, name[1]), NULL);
 		if (ret < 0) {
 			if (ret == -ENOENT)
 				ret = 0;
@@ -878,7 +878,7 @@ static int add_next_linkref(struct super_block *sb, u64 ino,
 	init_link_backref_key(&last, &last_lbkey, ino, U64_MAX, NULL, 0);
 
 	/* next backref key is now in ent */
-	ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+	ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 	trace_printk("ino %llu dir_ino %llu ret %d key_len %u\n",
 		      ino, dir_ino, ret, key.key_len);
 	if (ret < 0)
diff --git a/kmod/src/inode.c b/kmod/src/inode.c
index bd49c494..176bc306 100644
--- a/kmod/src/inode.c
+++ b/kmod/src/inode.c
@@ -933,7 +933,7 @@ int scoutfs_scan_orphans(struct super_block *sb)
 	init_orphan_key(&last, &last_okey, sbi->node_id, ~0ULL);
 
 	while (1) {
-		ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL);
+		ret = scoutfs_item_next_same(sb, &key, &last, NULL, NULL);
 		if (ret == -ENOENT) /* No more orphan items */
 			break;
 		if (ret < 0)
diff --git a/kmod/src/item.c b/kmod/src/item.c
index 2e9de37c..ac990cf6 100644
--- a/kmod/src/item.c
+++ b/kmod/src/item.c
@@ -844,6 +844,10 @@ static struct cached_item *item_for_next(struct rb_root *root,
  * Return the next item starting with the given key, returning the last
  * key at the most.
  *
+ * While iteration stops the last key we can cache up to the end key so
+ * that a sequence of small iterations covered by one lock are satisfied
+ * with a large read of items from segments into the cache.
+ *
  * -ENOENT is returned if there are no items between the given and last
  * keys.
  *
@@ -855,12 +859,12 @@ static struct cached_item *item_for_next(struct rb_root *root,
  * by the caller's value buffer length.
  */
 int scoutfs_item_next(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
-		      struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val)
+		      struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val,
+		      struct scoutfs_key_buf *end)
 {
 	struct scoutfs_sb_info *sbi = SCOUTFS_SB(sb);
 	struct item_cache *cac = sbi->item_cache;
 	struct scoutfs_key_buf *read_start = NULL;
-	struct scoutfs_key_buf *read_end = NULL;
 	struct scoutfs_key_buf *range_end = NULL;
 	struct cached_item *item;
 	unsigned long flags;
@@ -874,9 +878,8 @@ int scoutfs_item_next(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
 	}
 
 	read_start = scoutfs_key_alloc(sb, SCOUTFS_MAX_KEY_SIZE);
-	read_end = scoutfs_key_alloc(sb, SCOUTFS_MAX_KEY_SIZE);
 	range_end = scoutfs_key_alloc(sb, SCOUTFS_MAX_KEY_SIZE);
-	if (!read_start || !read_end || !range_end) {
+	if (!read_start || !range_end) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
 		goto out;
 	}
@@ -902,12 +905,10 @@ int scoutfs_item_next(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
 		if (!cached) {
 			/* missing cache starts at key */
 			scoutfs_key_copy(read_start, key);
-			scoutfs_key_copy(read_end, range_end);
 
 		} else if (scoutfs_key_compare(range_end, last) < 0) {
 			/* missing cache starts at range_end */
 			scoutfs_key_copy(read_start, range_end);
-			scoutfs_key_copy(read_end, last);
 
 		} else {
 			/* no items and we have cache between key and last */
@@ -917,7 +918,7 @@ int scoutfs_item_next(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
 
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cac->lock, flags);
 
-		ret = scoutfs_manifest_read_items(sb, read_start, read_end);
+		ret = scoutfs_manifest_read_items(sb, read_start, end);
 
 		spin_lock_irqsave(&cac->lock, flags);
 		if (ret)
@@ -927,7 +928,6 @@ int scoutfs_item_next(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cac->lock, flags);
 out:
 	scoutfs_key_free(sb, read_start);
-	scoutfs_key_free(sb, read_end);
 	scoutfs_key_free(sb, range_end);
 
 	trace_printk("ret %d\n", ret);
@@ -943,7 +943,8 @@ out:
 int scoutfs_item_next_same_min(struct super_block *sb,
 			       struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
 			       struct scoutfs_key_buf *last,
-			       struct kvec *val, int len)
+			       struct kvec *val, int len,
+			       struct scoutfs_key_buf *end)
 {
 	int key_len = key->key_len;
 	int ret;
@@ -953,7 +954,7 @@ int scoutfs_item_next_same_min(struct super_block *sb,
 	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!val || scoutfs_kvec_length(val) < len))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, val);
+	ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, val, end);
 	if (ret >= 0 && (key->key_len != key_len || ret < len))
 		ret = -EIO;
 
@@ -967,14 +968,15 @@ int scoutfs_item_next_same_min(struct super_block *sb,
  * search key.  It treats size mismatches as a sign of corruption.
  */
 int scoutfs_item_next_same(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
-			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val)
+			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val,
+			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *end)
 {
 	int key_len = key->key_len;
 	int ret;
 
 	trace_printk("key len %u\n", key_len);
 
-	ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, val);
+	ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, val, end);
 	if (ret >= 0 && (key->key_len != key_len))
 		ret = -EIO;
 
diff --git a/kmod/src/item.h b/kmod/src/item.h
index 774f0ab7..924f2fda 100644
--- a/kmod/src/item.h
+++ b/kmod/src/item.h
@@ -18,13 +18,16 @@ int scoutfs_item_lookup_exact(struct super_block *sb,
 			      struct scoutfs_key_buf *key, struct kvec *val,
 			      int size, struct scoutfs_key_buf *end);
 int scoutfs_item_next(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
-		      struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val);
+		      struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val,
+		      struct scoutfs_key_buf *end);
 int scoutfs_item_next_same_min(struct super_block *sb,
 			       struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
 			       struct scoutfs_key_buf *last,
-			       struct kvec *val, int len);
+			       struct kvec *val, int len,
+			       struct scoutfs_key_buf *end);
 int scoutfs_item_next_same(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
-			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val);
+			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *last, struct kvec *val,
+			   struct scoutfs_key_buf *end);
 int scoutfs_item_create(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key,
 		        struct kvec *val);
 int scoutfs_item_dirty(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key);
diff --git a/kmod/src/xattr.c b/kmod/src/xattr.c
index 19dbce6f..0fac057d 100644
--- a/kmod/src/xattr.c
+++ b/kmod/src/xattr.c
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ ssize_t scoutfs_listxattr(struct dentry *dentry, char *buffer, size_t size)
 
 	total = 0;
 	for (;;) {
-		ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, NULL);
+		ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, NULL, lck->end);
 		if (ret < 0) {
 			if (ret == -ENOENT)
 				ret = total;
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ int scoutfs_xattr_drop(struct super_block *sb, u64 ino)
 	/* the inode is dead so we don't need the xattr sem */
 
 	for (;;) {
-		ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, NULL);
+		ret = scoutfs_item_next(sb, key, last, NULL, lck->end);
 		if (ret < 0) {
 			if (ret == -ENOENT)
 				ret = 0;