I have a Cruzer USB disk that when I put WORD 2003 files on it I have a problem opening. It is 2GB, however, the amount of files does not make a difference. When I try to open the file, I get a mess "File permissions for document or drive" "Free Memory''

There is an update on this page, it may help out as it does address your situation
Description of the Office 2003 critical update: November 4, 2003 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828041)