I don’t know what it is about this 2GB thumb drive, but it’s incredibly slow in USB 1 mode, but not too bad in USB 2 mode. I tried copying this 600+Mb ISO to it from my Linux box with it formatted at ext3, ext2 and FAT32, and the fastest time was over 35 minutes. The same file to a 1Gb thumb drive in the same USB slot was only 11 minutes.
On my Powerbook, USB 2.0, that same file copied to the thumb drive in 2:43. Copying it to the 1Gb thumb drive took 2:04. So it’s only on USB 1 that the other one is dog slow.
I had all kinds of speed issues with USB. It wouldn’t reliably recognize 2.0 devices, was slow, etc.
Finally, I had an epiphany and realized that the problem was the cables taking the motherboard USB connectors to the ports on the front of the case.
So I bought one of those drive-bay USB port housings that came with shielded cables. All my problems went away after that.