If you want your PC to automatically detect when you've attached your external HD and run an appropriate backup tool, then I can recommend an app called USB Detect and Launch.

If you want your PC to automatically detect when you've attached your external HD and run an appropriate backup tool, then I can recommend an app called USB Detect and Launch.

If you want to detect when you've attached your flash drive and run an appropriate backup script, then I can heartily recommend an app called USB Detect and Launch.

@Ickster:

When I investigated this I found that [autorun.inf] doesn't work on USB flash devices. There's a few things you can do with it, and that includes making that 'autoplay' popup window include your own menu item, which can call a script. That's covered here.

It'd be so good if this option was available for all storage devices. To get around it I coded up a utility called USB Detect and Launch. It's aimed at power users and isn't as pretty or integrated as the solution above, but it will work with any removable storage. Give it a try and let me know what you think.