diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java
index ba064668e39..037e354b7e2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/zookeeper/ZKUtil.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.net.Socket;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
@@ -36,19 +35,17 @@ import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.hadoop.classification.InterfaceStability;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.EmptyWatcher;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ServerName;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.*;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.executor.RegionTransitionData;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Threads;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.AsyncCallback;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.CreateMode;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException;
-import org.apache.zookeeper.Watcher;
-import org.apache.zookeeper.ZooKeeper;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException.NoNodeException;
+import org.apache.zookeeper.Watcher;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.ZooDefs.Ids;
+import org.apache.zookeeper.ZooKeeper;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.data.ACL;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.data.Stat;
 
@@ -599,13 +596,11 @@ public class ZKUtil {
       ZooKeeperWatcher zkw, String baseNode) throws KeeperException {
     List<String> nodes =
       ZKUtil.listChildrenAndWatchForNewChildren(zkw, baseNode);
-    List<NodeAndData> newNodes = Collections.emptyList();
-    if (nodes != null) {
-      for (String node : nodes) {
-        String nodePath = ZKUtil.joinZNode(baseNode, node);
-        byte[] data = ZKUtil.getDataAndWatch(zkw, nodePath);
-        newNodes.add(new NodeAndData(nodePath, data));
-      }
+    List<NodeAndData> newNodes = new ArrayList<NodeAndData>();
+    for (String node: nodes) {
+      String nodePath = ZKUtil.joinZNode(baseNode, node);
+      byte [] data = ZKUtil.getDataAndWatch(zkw, nodePath);
+      newNodes.add(new NodeAndData(nodePath, data));
     }
     return newNodes;
   }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
index 3f239e06814..64dc2c0555b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HBaseTestingUtility.java
@@ -432,6 +432,9 @@ public class HBaseTestingUtility {
     // It's also deprecated
     System.setProperty("test.cache.data", this.clusterTestDir.toString());
 
+    // Set the permissions for dfs data directories
+    this.conf.set("dfs.datanode.data.dir.perm", "700");
+    
     // Ok, now we can start
     this.dfsCluster = new MiniDFSCluster(0, this.conf, servers, true, true,
       true, null, null, hosts, null);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java
index d4f76e96058..27b858b735c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestZooKeeper.java
@@ -342,18 +342,6 @@ public class TestZooKeeper {
 
     ZKUtil.createAndFailSilent(zk2, aclZnode);
  }
-  
-  @Test
-  /**
-   * Test should not fail with NPE when getChildDataAndWatchForNewChildren
-   * invoked with wrongNode
-   */
-  public void testGetChildDataAndWatchForNewChildrenShouldNotThrowNPE()
-      throws Exception {
-    ZooKeeperWatcher zkw = new ZooKeeperWatcher(TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration(),
-        "testGetChildDataAndWatchForNewChildrenShouldNotThrowNPE", null);
-    ZKUtil.getChildDataAndWatchForNewChildren(zkw, "/wrongNode");
-  }
 
   @org.junit.Rule
   public org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ResourceCheckerJUnitRule cu =