Donald S. Goldman wrote:

I regularly want to make a copy of my outlook.pst file and bring it to
another location.

Get the PFBACKUP add-in from Microsoft.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8B081F3A-B7D0-4B16-B8AF-5A6322F4FD01&displaylang=en

Right now the file location buried in a sub-sub
directory \Documents and Settings\[name]\local settings\application
data, which I think is the default setting. Sometimes I forget the
exact location or have to get to it in explorer to copy it to a flash
drive and them transport it.

Is there any reason I could not move it to say: C:\outlook data? Are
there any disadvantages in doing so?

There's no reason you cannot move it and I don't know of any drawbacks.
With Outlook closed, just move the file. Start Outlook and it should
complain that it can't find your folders and give you a browser window.
Browse to the new location of the file, select it, and click OK. Just keep
in mind that you can't make a reliable backup unless Outlook is closed.
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]