Ubuntu :: Inexplicably Long Pauses When Moving Files?

I'm wondering what might be causing some VERY long delays when I move groups of files from one directory to another on the same drive. In the GUI, I simply multi(shift)select a few dozen items at once (a set of JPEGs previously downloaded from my camera) and drag them together from the source directory window (where I downloaded all the images from the memory card) into a new/empty folder/window specific to that group of images. Just routine sorting of files basically... Once I 'let go' ('dropping' the items into their destination) there's often a SURPRISINGLY long delay before I can do something else within the GUI... open another file, or rename an item, etc... This delay can take a few seconds to more than a minute (if moving a couple hundred files at once)... this 'wait' during such a routine 'housekeeping' task seems surprising to me. During these delays, I CAN open/use other programs such as System Monitor or a browser... it just seems that additional GUI/filesystem tasks must wait out the delay before proceeding. If I go ahead and try to do another filesystem task during the delay anyway, it gets buffered... the file won't open/next files don't get moved/etc... UNTIL the delay from the first operation is complete (updated item counts resulting from file moves aren't reflected in List View until the delay is finished too).

According to System Monitor (see image attachment for screen cap during one of these delays...) one CPU is pegged (the "gvfsd-metadata" process, which I guess corresponds to the file/move) and the other 3 cores are relatively idle, and there's plenty of free RAM/no swap. I'd have thought such a delay wouldn't be an issue with Ubuntu/my PC... maybe I have something set up incorrectly? Other clues: intermittently, during these delays/file operations, the GUI shuts down all open windows (folders)... as if the delays/buffered tasks caused some sort of reset. The hard drive is internal SATA formatted regular Ext4 and the Ubuntu on my PC is the 32-bit version since I figured my Dell is too old (about 4-5 years) to justify the 64-bit version. Like most folks, there are LOTS of files/folders on my drives, but I only have 3 file windows open at once most of the time, and am only displaying the item names and 'sizes'... no other columns. Nothing other than the 'move' itself is running at the time which could help explain the delay.