Speed up Drive/Network Folder Access?

I'm basically satisfied with Vista program speed/execution on this little
notebook thus far, but...

Vista does seem to be some what less than speedy when initially accessing
even a 4 GB USB thumb drive with only 60 MB of files on it; and the access
of resident files in a sync'ed folder on a network drive when disconnected
can be downright painful.

Despite that this is a refurbished machine that came with a 5400rpm drive,
are there any other/possible tips for speeding these operations up?

TIA

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Last update: 6/1/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)