diff --git a/cmd/hdfs/chmod.go b/cmd/hdfs/chmod.go
index 1bc25671..c55c77ed 100644
--- a/cmd/hdfs/chmod.go
+++ b/cmd/hdfs/chmod.go
@@ -21,18 +21,20 @@ func chmod(args []string, recursive bool) {
 		fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	visit := func(p string, fi os.FileInfo) {
-		err := client.Chmod(p, os.FileMode(mode))
+	visit := func(p string, fi os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		err = client.Chmod(p, os.FileMode(mode))
 
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
 			status = 1
+			return err
 		}
+		return nil
 	}
 
 	for _, p := range expanded {
 		if recursive {
-			err = walk(client, p, visit)
+			err = client.Walk(p, visit)
 			if err != nil {
 				fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
 				status = 1
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ func chmod(args []string, recursive bool) {
 				fatal(err)
 			}
 
-			visit(p, info)
+			visit(p, info, nil)
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/hdfs/chown.go b/cmd/hdfs/chown.go
index 6afc9214..99adf9e4 100644
--- a/cmd/hdfs/chown.go
+++ b/cmd/hdfs/chown.go
@@ -30,18 +30,20 @@ func chown(args []string, recursive bool) {
 		fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	visit := func(p string, fi os.FileInfo) {
-		err := client.Chown(p, owner, group)
+	visit := func(p string, fi os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		err = client.Chown(p, owner, group)
 
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
 			status = 1
+			return err
 		}
+		return nil
 	}
 
 	for _, p := range expanded {
 		if recursive {
-			err = walk(client, p, visit)
+			err = client.Walk(p, visit)
 			if err != nil {
 				fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
 				status = 1
@@ -52,7 +54,7 @@ func chown(args []string, recursive bool) {
 				fatal(err)
 			}
 
-			visit(p, info)
+			visit(p, info, nil)
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/hdfs/get.go b/cmd/hdfs/get.go
index 64079b8a..59a682d8 100644
--- a/cmd/hdfs/get.go
+++ b/cmd/hdfs/get.go
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ func get(args []string) {
 		fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	err = walk(client, source, func(p string, fi os.FileInfo) {
+	err = client.Walk(source, func(p string, fi os.FileInfo, err error) error {
 		fullDest := filepath.Join(dest, strings.TrimPrefix(p, source))
 
 		if fi.IsDir() {
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ func get(args []string) {
 				fatal(err)
 			}
 		}
+		return nil
 	})
 
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/hdfs/paths.go b/cmd/hdfs/paths.go
index 964eccf1..5a918c46 100644
--- a/cmd/hdfs/paths.go
+++ b/cmd/hdfs/paths.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"errors"
-	"io"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"path"
@@ -163,50 +162,3 @@ func expandPaths(client *hdfs.Client, paths []string) ([]string, error) {
 
 	return res, nil
 }
-
-type walkFunc func(string, os.FileInfo)
-
-func walk(client *hdfs.Client, root string, visit walkFunc) error {
-	rootInfo, err := client.Stat(root)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	visit(root, rootInfo)
-	if rootInfo.IsDir() {
-		err = walkDir(client, root, visit)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
-
-func walkDir(client *hdfs.Client, dir string, visit walkFunc) error {
-	dirReader, err := client.Open(dir)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	var partial []os.FileInfo
-	for ; err != io.EOF; partial, err = dirReader.Readdir(100) {
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
-		for _, child := range partial {
-			childPath := path.Join(dir, child.Name())
-			visit(childPath, child)
-
-			if child.IsDir() {
-				err = walkDir(client, childPath, visit)
-				if err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
diff --git a/walk.go b/walk.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..76c8a396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/walk.go
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+package hdfs
+
+import (
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"sort"
+)
+
+// Walk does the exact same thing as filepath.Walk (and is mostly copied from there)
+func (client *Client) Walk(root string, visit filepath.WalkFunc) error {
+	rootInfo, err := client.Stat(root)
+	if err != nil {
+		err = visit(root, nil, err)
+	} else {
+		err = client.walk(root, rootInfo, visit)
+	}
+	if err == filepath.SkipDir {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return err
+}
+
+func (client *Client) walk(path string, info os.FileInfo, visit filepath.WalkFunc) error {
+	err := visit(path, info, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		if info.IsDir() && err == filepath.SkipDir {
+			return nil
+		}
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if !info.IsDir() {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	names, err := client.readDirNames(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return visit(path, info, err)
+	}
+
+	for _, name := range names {
+		filename := filepath.Join(path, name)
+		fileInfo, err := client.Stat(filename)
+		if err != nil {
+			if err := visit(filename, fileInfo, err); err != nil && err != filepath.SkipDir {
+				return err
+			}
+		} else {
+			err = client.walk(filename, fileInfo, visit)
+			if err != nil {
+				if !fileInfo.IsDir() || err != filepath.SkipDir {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (client *Client) readDirNames(dir string) ([]string, error) {
+	dirReader, err := client.Open(dir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// read the dir entries by chunks of a few hundreds
+	names, err := readDirNamesByChunks(dirReader, 500)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	sort.Strings(names)
+	return names, nil
+}
+
+func readDirNamesByChunks(dirReader *FileReader, chunkSize int) ([]string, error) {
+
+	var toRet []string
+	var partial []string
+	var err error
+
+	if chunkSize <= 0 {
+		return dirReader.Readdirnames(chunkSize)
+	}
+
+	for ; err != io.EOF; partial, err = dirReader.Readdirnames(chunkSize) {
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		toRet = append(toRet, partial...)
+	}
+	return toRet, nil
+}
diff --git a/walk_test.go b/walk_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..97f6aaf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/walk_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+package hdfs
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestReadDirNames(t *testing.T) {
+	c := getClient(t)
+	entries, err := c.readDirNames("/_test/")
+	assert.Nil(t, err, "unexpected error")
+	assert.False(t, len(entries) == 0, "did not list anything")
+	assert.Contains(t, entries, "mobydick.txt", "did not find expected file")
+	assert.Contains(t, entries, "foo.txt", "did not find expected file")
+}
+
+func TestReadDirNamesByChunks(t *testing.T) {
+	c := getClient(t)
+	dirReader, err := c.Open("/_test/")
+
+	assert.Nil(t, err, "unexpected error")
+
+	singleRun, err := readDirNamesByChunks(dirReader, -1)
+	assert.Nil(t, err, "unexpected error")
+
+	dirReader, err = c.Open("/_test/")
+	assert.Nil(t, err, "unexpected error")
+
+	byChunks, err := readDirNamesByChunks(dirReader, 1)
+	assert.Nil(t, err, "unexpected error")
+
+	assert.Equal(t, singleRun, byChunks, "discrepancy in listed content")
+}
+
+func TestWalk(t *testing.T) {
+	c := getClient(t)
+
+	c.Mkdir("/_test/walk", os.ModePerm)
+	c.Mkdir("/_test/walk/dir", os.ModePerm)
+	c.Mkdir("/_test/walk/dir/subdir", os.ModePerm)
+	c.Create("/_test/walk/walkfile")
+	c.Create("/_test/walk/dir/walkfile1")
+	c.Create("/_test/walk/dir/walkfile2")
+	c.Create("/_test/walk/dir/subdir/walkfile1")
+	c.Create("/_test/walk/dir/subdir/walkfile2")
+
+	paths := make([]string, 0, 8)
+
+	err := c.Walk("/_test/walk/", walkFnTest(&paths))
+	assert.Nil(t, err, "unexpected error")
+
+	expected := []string{
+		"/_test/walk/",
+		"/_test/walk/dir",
+		"/_test/walk/dir/subdir",
+		"/_test/walk/dir/subdir/walkfile1",
+		"/_test/walk/dir/subdir/walkfile2",
+		"/_test/walk/dir/walkfile1",
+		"/_test/walk/dir/walkfile2",
+		"/_test/walk/walkfile"}
+
+	assert.Equal(t, expected, paths, "discrepancy between expected and walked paths.")
+
+}
+
+func TestWalkError(t *testing.T) {
+	c := getClient(t)
+	errors := make([]error, 0, 1)
+	c.Walk("/not_existing", walkErrorFn(&errors))
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, len(errors), "expected a single error")
+}
+
+func walkFnTest(encounteredPaths *[]string) filepath.WalkFunc {
+	return func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		*encounteredPaths = append(*encounteredPaths, path)
+		return nil
+	}
+}
+
+func walkErrorFn(errors *[]error) filepath.WalkFunc {
+	return func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			*errors = append(*errors, err)
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+}