It's likely the lack of RAM is causing issues: 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) is the minimum requirement. See
Windows 7 system requirements - Microsoft Windows
One possible solution is to use Readyboost with a flash drive that has at least 4 GB of storage.
See if that provides more stability for the drive.
Another option: increase the virtual memory/pagefile size. My guess is the pagefile is being overused due to the lack of RAM and resulting in hard disk errors. To resize the pagefile: Start Menu -> Right Click Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Under Performance, click Settings... -> Advanced tab -> Under Virtual memory, click Change... -> Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives -> Change the custom size for C: to Initial Size (MB): 2048 and Maximum size (MB): 4096
Click set, and click OK. Restart the computer to apply the changes.
See if that provides more stability for the drive.