Well, quite often, actually, but I understand what you're saying. The primary disadvantage of my system is that I don't always have the latest version of the apps. I do tend to update the important ones regularly, though.

Besides, that argument only really works for the installable apps. The portable apps run directly off the drive, and I often do so, with all my preferences already made. And as long as I'm storing all those portable apps on there, I might as well store all the installable apps I use often as well.