data base REALLY slow on remote

Lately the db is really ... Really slow ... When I search on the laptop (faster hdd than desktop) which is not connected to the HDD with the images on it.

Just to select an image takes several minutes with the spinning wheel.

I'm storing my db in dropbox (but it is then also local on my HDD), running mac 10.6.8 on Macbook pro with SSD and i7 cpu and 8gb ram.

DB has about 121,000 images and takes about 4-5 minutes to search on a keyword.

Is there some setting that will fix this for search when not connected to primary files?

Thanks,

Tom