files getting copied extremely slowly

[whatever1234]

hi

my computer configuration is 40gb maxtor IDE hard disk,512mb DDR RAM,jetway 939gt3 motherboard(nvidia chip set,on board 6100 graphics card,IDE and sata support),DVD writer lite on

whenever i have tried copying across partitions the copying rate is extremely slow sometimes dropping to a measly 300 KB/s.whereas i guess i should be getting at least 10-20 times more than that at least in the worst case.even copying on to a USB drive is extremely slow.copying within a partition is fast(which should anyway be the case as the files are not physically moved i guess)
my hard disk is approximately 3 years old but i bought the motherboard last year.


my friend suggested that i update my DMA bus driver.
my questions are
1)is this the only solution?has he diagnosed the problem properly?
2)if it is where do i get drivers as there is minimal support available for this motherboard?

[Able]

What OS are you running?

[whatever1234]

i tried this on both XP and FC6