XP can't find drive/folders?

[jay lunis]

Win XP SR2
I am beginning to think XP is having trouble finding folders and drives
on my PC. I keep most of my working files on one of two USB HDs and
programs on the OEM HD. FWIW, the OEM HD has 3 partitions, each of the
2 USB HSs have 3 partitions.
Within Explorer, when I select a folder in the left (folder) pane, it
takes 2-5 seconds to open. When I select a drive or subfolder by
selecting it in the right pane, I get a popup that looks like a CMD
screen which disappears after 1-2 seconds. I can only select drives and
folders by selecting them in the left pane. (Not always true but over
90% of the time. Changing from one folder to another takes 3-7 seconds.
Opening almost any app that needs working files (e.g., Outlook, Firefox)
startup takes anywhere from 10-60 seconds to complete. When I want to
change folders within an app like MS Word, when I select 'Open' and try
to change the folder through 'Look in," I wait 30-45 seconds for the
dropdown list of folders to appear.
From my non-expert perspective, it looks as though XP has to look for
and through all the drives to find the files it needs.
Trouble-shooting suggestins please.

 

[DL]

Are these usb drives allways connected or are you swapping them about?

 

[jay lunis]

Are these usb drives allways connected or are you swapping them about?

always connected. I have tried removing them one at a time with no
improvement. Unfortunately for my theory, I tried removing them both
and still have the same slowness. I am afraid this may significantly
weaken my theory unless somehow is still looking for drives that are not
connected.