awesome.  i have now mobilized netbeans (i used to use old v3.6) onto
an external hard drive, and it works great, except for one caveat:  the
drive name.  wen netbeans opens under a different drive name than is in
its reference files, it either won't run (netbeans.conf), or won't
compile (build.properites in the .netbeans\\5.0beta2 directory  defined
by netbeans.conf).  i suggest a java program to switch out the drive
names in the files.

here's the source i came up with (sry if its long):

// Mobilizer.java written by Rob Wiesler, shrike.exe@gmail.com

import java.io.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class Mobilizer extends JFrame
{
   public static void main(String[] args) {
       new Mobilizer().show();
   }

   private JButton e;
   private JButton f;
   private JButton g;
   private JButton h;
   private JFrame parent = this;

   public Mobilizer() {
       setTitle("Mobilizer");
       setSize(275,65);
       setResizable(false);
       setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

       e = new JButton("<E:\\>");
       f = new JButton("<F:\\>");
       g = new JButton("<G:\\>");
       h = new JButton("<H:\\>");

       Container cp = getContentPane();
       cp.add(e);
       cp.add(f);
       cp.add(g);
       cp.add(h);

       cp.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
       e.addActionListener(new ButtonHandler('E'));
       f.addActionListener(new ButtonHandler('F'));
       g.addActionListener(new ButtonHandler('G'));
       h.addActionListener(new ButtonHandler('H'));
   }

   class ButtonHandler implements ActionListener
   {
       public ButtonHandler(char d) {
           drive = d;
       }

       private char drive;

       public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e2) {
           try {
               PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new FileOutputStream(
                   "" + drive +
":\\Java\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\etc\\netbeans.conf"
               ), true);
               out.println("# ${HOME} will be replaced by JVM
user.home system property");

out.println("netbeans_default_userdir=\"Java/.netbeans/5.0beta2\"");
               out.println("");
               out.println("# options used by netbeans launcher by
default, can be overridden by explicit");
               out.println("# command line switches");
               out.println("netbeans_default_options=\"-J-Xms32m
-J-Xmx128m -J-XX:PermSize=32m -J-XX:MaxPermSize=96m -J-ea
-J-Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true\"");
               out.println("");
               out.println("# default location of J2SE JDK, can be
overridden by using --jdkhome <dir> switch");
               out.println("netbeans_jdkhome=\"" + drive +
":\\Java\\j2sdk1.4.2_10\"");
               out.println("");
               out.println("# clusters\' paths separated by
path.separator (semicolon on Windows, colon on Unices)");

out.println("#netbeans_extraclusters=\"/absolute/path/to/cluster1:/absolute/path/to/cluster2\"");
               out.close();
           } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
               ex.printStackTrace();
           } try {
               PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new FileOutputStream(
                   "" + drive +
":\\Java\\.netbeans\\5.0beta2\\build.properties"
               ), true);
               out.println("copyfiles.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\ant\\\\extra\\\\copyfiles.jar");
               out.println("default.javac.source=1.4");
               out.println("default.javac.target=1.4");
               out.println("jspc.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\ant\\\\lib\\\\ant.jar:${j2ee.platform.classpath}:"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jasper-compiler-5.5.9.jar:"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jasper-runtime-5.5.9.jar:"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\commons-el.jar:"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\commons-logging-1.0.4.jar");
               out.println("libs.absolutelayout.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\AbsoluteLayout.jar");
               out.println("libs.absolutelayout.javadoc=");
               out.println("libs.absolutelayout.src=");
               out.println("libs.jaxrpc16.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\activation.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\FastInfoset.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\jaxrpc16\\\\jax-qname.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\jaxp-api.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\jaxrpc-api.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\jaxrpc-impl.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\jaxrpc-spi.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\jsr173_api.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\mail.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\relaxngDatatype.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\saaj-api.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\saaj-impl.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jaxrpc16\\\\xsdlib.jar");
               out.println("libs.jaxrpc16.javadoc=");
               out.println("libs.jaxrpc16.src=");
               out.println("libs.jsf.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jsf\\\\commons-beanutils.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jsf\\\\commons-collections.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jsf\\\\commons-digester.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jsf\\\\commons-logging.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jsf\\\\jsf-api.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jsf\\\\jsf-impl.jar");
               out.println("libs.jsf.javadoc=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\docs\\\\jsf-1.1.01-javadoc.zip");
               out.println("libs.jsf.src=");
               out.println("libs.jstl11.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\standard.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\jstl.jar");
               out.println("libs.jstl11.javadoc=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\docs\\\\jstl-1.1.2-javadoc.zip");
               out.println("libs.jstl11.src=");
               out.println("libs.junit.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\junit-3.8.1.jar");
               out.println("libs.junit.javadoc=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\docs\\\\junit-3.8.1-api.zip");
               out.println("libs.junit.src=");
               out.println("libs.struts.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\antlr.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\commons-beanutils.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\commons-digester.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\commons-fileupload.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\commons-logging.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\commons-validator.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\jakarta-oro.jar;"
+ drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\struts\\\\struts.jar");
               out.println("libs.struts.javadoc=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\docs\\\\struts-javadoc.zip");
               out.println("libs.struts.src=");
               out.println("libs.swing-layout.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\ide6\\\\modules\\\\ext\\\\swing-layout-0.9.jar");
               out.println("libs.swing-layout.javadoc=");
               out.println("libs.swing-layout.src=");

out.println("nbplatform.default.harness.dir=${nbplatform.default.netbeans.dest.dir}/harness");
               out.println("nbplatform.default.netbeans.dest.dir=" +
drive + ":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2");
               out.println("wsclientuptodate.classpath=" + drive +
":\\\\Java\\\\netbeans-5.0beta2\\\\enterprise2\\\\ant\\\\extra\\\\wsclientuptodate.jar");

               out.close();
           } catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
               ex.printStackTrace();
           }
           Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();
       }
   }
}