Preventing Windows Explorer from loading directory data

[Guest]

I have several directories containing hundreds of thousands of files each on
an external hard drive. When I view the list of these directories in Windows
Explorer, the hard drive works for a long time to determine the sizes of the
directories. Meanwhile, hovering over a directory shows "Size: larger
than..." How do I tell Explorer to not make the hard drive look all that up?
I just want a listing. I want the size and other information of a particular
directory to be looked up only when I hover over it or view properties.

 

[DatabaseBen]

the indexing service may be
an issue for your system

or

you can remove that particular column
and it may dismiss populating those fields..

(right click on column titles to get a listing)

g.l.