I use a dell RD1000-160GB backup drive on my network. The computer that this drive runs off of is a windows XP machine. After doing some research, I still find myself stumped on even whether or not it is possible to do what needs to be done (well doing it the way I am thinking of anyways). So here is my problem.

I have written a batch file (gbackup.bat) that simply does a quick format followed by a low-level format on the G drive (RD1000 backup drive). Every day, my company runs a backup, which is automated at about 11pm at night. In order for this backup to work correctly (for whatever reason), we need to run the batch file first. I would like to make it so that if you insert the new disk into the backup drive it will prompt the user (using Auto-play) with the option of running the batch file to do the formats. Everything I have read has pointed me in the direction of using an autorun.inf file. However, nothing talks about anything other than CD/DVD (and occasionally USB thumb drives). When I tried to write my own autorun.inf file, it is being completely ignored by windows. All-in-all, it boils down to a few questions.

1. Can you use an autorun.inf file on a backup drive?
2. If not, how would you automate a task such as this to run my batch file at a given time every day (this XP machine is hooked up to a windows server 2003 system)?
3. If so, where could I go to learn about how to do this specifically for a non-cd/dvd/usb thumb drive?

Posts on this topic are much appreciated and I thank you all ahead of time!

If your batch file works, use the Scheduled Tasks>Add a Task wizard to setup a time for it to run.

Thank you much! That was a very simple, and efficient way to do exactly what I needed done.