I've been trying to fully sync my (standard) client for weeks. My blk0001.dat and blk0002.dat are up to about 3.4GB total, and I'm about 98% synchronized. Is the multiple week timeframe typical or do I have something configured incorrectly?
You can run several days with a slow computer, an encrypted filesystem, and/or an older version of the client -- especially if all three are true.
Make sure you are using the latest client, that will have the best performing software.
Also, with v0.7.1, you can pull via torrent bootstrap.dat, which will load automatically and get you up to speed much faster. At 98% you are already past where Bootstrap.dat will help so just let the client finish up at this point.
Going forward, "ultraprune" which is being finalized for inclusion in v0.8 will speed up this process significantly -- it uses a new database system that does much less disk I/O, and is coded to organize the data in a much more efficient manner.
Core Development Status Report #1 -
https://bitcoinfoundation.org/blog/?p=16