Windows hangs when entering certain drive

Hi
This is not much of a problem but i would just like to know what is causing it.

I have a 40GB harddrive and i have it split into two partitions. 8gb(c drive) and 32gb(e drive).

For the last while when i enter the edrive and try to enter any folder the computer will hang for about 15sec's and will show up as "not responding" in the task manager. The problem resolves itself after about 15sec's and i can continue on as normal.

What could possibly be causing this?

 

In addition to what Robo said, have you checked for errors on that drive?

 

im running windows xp home. ill do what you said and see if it makes a difference.