The instructions tell me to open the Removable Disk, but when I try to do that, my computer asks me to insert a disk into Drive F. Help!

Step 1:
When you connect an external hard drive or USB flash drive to your PC computer, the drive should appear in the "Computer" window. However, if the data on the drive is corrupted, you may receive an error saying that the disk is not accessible. In order to get the removable disk working again, you will need to boot up your computer using the Windows installation disk and then format the corrupted drive.
Connect the removable disk to your computer. Insert the Windows installation disk into your optical drive and reboot the system. Press any key on the keyboard when you see the prompt asking if you want to boot to the CD. Press "Next" and then click on the "I accept the license terms" button. Click "Custom" when the program asks you what type of installation you want to perform. Click on the "Drive options (advanced)" button. The next window will display a list of all the hard drives connected to your computer. The removable disk will appear, even if its data is inaccessible. Highlight the removable disk that you want to format and then choose the "NTFS" option. Click "OK" to clear the data and format the hard drive.

Try these first

First off try it in a different computer and if that can read it then you know for sure that the problem is with yours.

If it does not read on another computer chances are the drive is dead and whilst uncommon it does happen.

Also if "shell hardware detection" is turned OFF in W7 then it wont tell you when it is plugged in but you can still read from USB devices. You just have to browse the "removable" devices from windows explorer Try them all if more than one is listed

1.What model Compaq?
2.What is the "removable" disk being referred to (should be drive not disk)
3.How long ago did this problem start and have you installed any other drives before this message?

We need details if we're to help.....Very hard to provide solutions when people ask things like "my computer doesn't work, can you tell me how to fix it? Precise cleraly explained informative questions get like solutions

Same thing happens to me .My 8gb silicon usb flash drive got the same error, please insert a disk into drive, the name of my drive weas changed into Removable Disk instead of the name(Sanctuary which is what i used) It said ni media ,and it was registered as XXXXXXXX U167CONTROL USB DEVICE can anyone help me with this.

Insert a removable disk, means to place in the appropriate drive one of the the following:
a. floppy diskette
(Usually a 1.4 meg floppy disk) Rapidly becoming obsolete
b. CD disc
c. DVD disc
d. Blu-ray disc
e. Thumb drives

Removable Disk
Also known as removable storage and removable media, a removable disk is a type of media that enables a user to easily move data between computers without having to open their computer.
Hope this helps!

try formatting. if not then replace it

1)I cannot format the pendrive. 2)when i double click on the removable disk,it says ''Please insert a disk into Drive E :'' 3)i used a pendrive format utility but the problem persists again. 4)i tried to format it using gnome also )I cannot format the pendrive. 2)when i double click on the removable disk,it says ''Please insert a disk into Drive E :'' 3)i used a pendrive format utility but the problem persists again. 4)i tried to format it using gnome also

Try connecting it to another computer. If you can see your data then back it up etc.
After you have recovered your data connect it to your computer, from Disk Manager, remove the partition, recreate it again and then format the drive, hopefully your external drive will be operational again.
There is a possibility that the hard disk has died and you will have lost your data. If you are desparate, hard drive data recovery companies charge an arm and a leg to recover data from dead drives.

You're getting that message because you've likely tried to open a card reader that has no media card in it. If you're sure that you're trying to open the right removable drive, right click on it and click explore, and it should open right up. I've gotten the same error when trying to load files to my flash drive from time to time. Hope this helps! www.dfwsupergeek.com

try to rerfresh on MY COMPUTER then it will appear on E, if it won't open, right click then Explore.