Even if you ignore the legal and security risks, the physics of audio production prevent true portability. A great DAW needs to communicate with hardware at a kernel level to achieve low latency.
Cubase 5 is a . Modern Windows is 64-bit. A legitimate copy uses a bit-bridge to run 64-bit plugins. Cracked portables usually break this bridge, meaning 90% of modern VSTs (Serum, Omnisphere, Kontakt) will not load or will crash instantly.
is one of the only DAWs that truly embraces portability. You can install it on a USB 3.0 drive and run it on any Windows machine without admin rights.