--- IO/vtkImageReader2.h.orig	2013-05-13 14:12:40.000000000 +0200
+++ IO/vtkImageReader2.h	2013-05-13 14:58:17.000000000 +0200
@@ -171,6 +171,15 @@
   vtkSetMacro(FileNameSliceSpacing,int);
   vtkGetMacro(FileNameSliceSpacing,int);
 
+  // Description:
+  // Set/Get whether the whole file should be completely read into 
+  // memory. This causes reads over network shares (especially CIFS)
+  // to be much faster, but also has the side effect of temporarily
+  // doubling the memory used for each file.
+  vtkSetMacro(BufferWholeFile,bool);
+  vtkGetMacro(BufferWholeFile,bool);
+  vtkBooleanMacro(BufferWholeFile,bool);
+
 
   // Description:
   // Set/Get the byte swapping to explicitly swap the bytes of a file.
@@ -240,6 +249,9 @@
   int FileLowerLeft;
 
   ifstream *File;
+  bool BufferWholeFile;
+  char *buffer; // Used if BufferWholeFile is true
+
   unsigned long DataIncrements[4];
   int DataExtent[6];
   int SwapBytes;
--- IO/vtkImageReader2.cxx.orig	2013-05-13 14:12:39.000000000 +0200
+++ IO/vtkImageReader2.cxx	2013-05-13 14:56:01.000000000 +0200
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@
   this->FileNameSliceOffset = 0;
   this->FileNameSliceSpacing = 1;
 
+  this->BufferWholeFile = 0;
+
   // Left over from short reader
   this->SwapBytes = 0;
   this->FileLowerLeft = 0;
@@ -84,6 +86,8 @@
     this->File->close();
     delete this->File;
     this->File = NULL;
+    delete[] this->buffer;
+    this->buffer = NULL;
     }
   
   if (this->FileNames)
@@ -441,6 +445,8 @@
   os << indent << "FileNameSliceSpacing: " 
      << this->FileNameSliceSpacing << "\n";
 
+  os << indent << "BufferWholeFile: " << (this->BufferWholeFile ? "On\n" : "Off\n");
+
   os << indent << "DataScalarType: " 
      << vtkImageScalarTypeNameMacro(this->DataScalarType) << "\n";
   os << indent << "NumberOfScalarComponents: " 
@@ -606,6 +612,8 @@
     this->File->close();
     delete this->File;
     this->File = NULL;
+    delete[] this->buffer;
+    this->buffer = NULL;
     }
   
   // Open the new file
@@ -618,6 +626,21 @@
 #else
     this->File = new ifstream(this->InternalFileName, ios::in);
 #endif
+
+    if ( this->BufferWholeFile )
+      {
+      // Allocate a buffer to hold the whole file's contents
+      long size;
+      size = this->File->rdbuf()->pubseekoff(0, ios::end,ios::in);
+      this->File->rdbuf()->pubseekpos(0, ios::in);
+
+      buffer = new char[size];
+      this->File->rdbuf()->pubsetbuf(buffer, size);
+
+      // Read all the file (doesn't matter where the file is read)
+      this->File->read(buffer, size);
+      this->File->rdbuf()->pubseekpos(0, ios::in);
+      }
     }
   if (! this->File || this->File->fail())
     {