How to Make a Slow USB Flash Drive Faster

1. Delete all files from the drive.
2. Go to My Computer and right-click on the flash drive, choosing Properties from the context menu.
3. In the window that appears, click on the Hardware tab.
4. Find the flash drive in the list of devices, click on it once and then hit the Properties button.
5. In the new dialog, click on the Policies tab.
6. Select the "Optimize for performance" option if it isn't selected already and hit OK.
7. Hit OK again to get out of the original Properties dialog.
8. Go to My Computer and right-click on the flash drive again, this time choosing the Format option from the context menu.
9. In the subsequent dialog, choose the NTFS file system from the dropdown.
10. Select the Quick Format option.
11. Hit OK and wait as your flash drive is formatted with the new file system.
12. When the final dialog appears, letting you know that the drive has been formatted, you're good to go.

After following the steps above, it was readily apparent when trying to transfer files to and from the drive that it was much faster. Note that the steps above are written from the perspective of a Windows XP machine, but they likely aren't too different on a Vista machine. Either way, I've noticed the speed increase on both machines, so I'm much happier with my new USB flash drive now.

Courtesy:

http://www.bernzilla.com/2008/07/17/how-to-make-a-slow-usb-flash-drive-faster/