How to move City Navigator to larger micro SD??

[Mike]

Anyone here know how to move City Navigator (new, on a 2GB micro SD)
to a larger micro SD card?
And, is there any advantage to doing so?

I recently purchased a Garmin Montana 650t, and (perhaps stupidly?)
got City Navigator on SD card.
It works fine, but at only 2GB, it chews up the whole micro-SD slot,
which if it were populated with a 32GB card, would free up a lot of
space for other things - notably, BaseCamp high resolution image
overlays.

I am aware (generally) that there is a limit to how large / how many
files can be used at once by the Montana.

Just wondering what steps are needed to move City Navigator to a
larger micro-SD and not run into "can't unlock files" issues, etc...

Thanks!

 

[MLD]

Anyone here know how to move City Navigator (new, on a 2GB micro SD)
to a larger micro SD card?
And, is there any advantage to doing so?

I recently purchased a Garmin Montana 650t, and (perhaps stupidly?)
got City Navigator on SD card.
It works fine, but at only 2GB, it chews up the whole micro-SD slot,
which if it were populated with a 32GB card, would free up a lot of
space for other things - notably, BaseCamp high resolution image
overlays.

I am aware (generally) that there is a limit to how large / how many
files can be used at once by the Montana.

Just wondering what steps are needed to move City Navigator to a
larger micro-SD and not run into "can't unlock files" issues, etc...

Thanks!

Why wouldn't this work? Plug the unit into the PC. The 2GB card will show
up as a drive. Copy the contents (one of the files will be over a GB) of
the 2 GB SD card to your hard drive. Remove the 2 GB card from the unit and
replace it with your SD card of choice. There probably is a max limit to
the size of the SD card you can use (I think that it is 16 GB--check with
Garmin Tech Support). Now copy the contents of the 2 GB SD Card (from the
hard drive) to the larger size SD card that is now in the unit. THz should
work if the map data in the 2 GB card is functional. Because of the size of
the file(s) it will take an hour of more, each time, to copy and/or move
these files. For a Nuvi, I followed this procedure in moving the map files
from a 2 GB to an 8 GB SDHC card without incident.
MLD
MLD

 

[Michael Steiger]

Anyone here know how to move City Navigator (new, on a 2GB micro SD)
to a larger micro SD card?
And, is there any advantage to doing so?

I recently purchased a Garmin Montana 650t, and (perhaps stupidly?)
got City Navigator on SD card.
It works fine, but at only 2GB, it chews up the whole micro-SD slot,
which if it were populated with a 32GB card, would free up a lot of
space for other things - notably, BaseCamp high resolution image
overlays.

I am aware (generally) that there is a limit to how large / how many
files can be used at once by the Montana.

Just wondering what steps are needed to move City Navigator to a
larger micro-SD and not run into "can't unlock files" issues, etc...

Usually Garmin maps sold on SD card are locked to exactly this card.
You can copy the files but when using the map it detects the wrong
card and does not work.

 

[Alan White]

Usually Garmin maps sold on SD card are locked to exactly this card.
You can copy the files but when using the map it detects the wrong
card and does not work.

I've copied Garmin maps from SD to Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo which have
worked in Base Camp on my MacBook Pro.

 

[MLD]

Usually Garmin maps sold on SD card are locked to exactly this card.
You can copy the files but when using the map it detects the wrong
card and does not work.

My thinking is that if the map on the SD card is functional (that is, it's
being used by the unit) and it is a file with the "img" extension--then it
is already " Unlocked" and can be treated the same as any typical file.
That's why you can copy and/or replace it with another file--new map file
with the same extension.
MLD

 

[Mike]

My thinking is that if the map on the SD card is functional (that is, it's
being used by the unit) and it is a file with the "img" extension--then it
is already " Unlocked" and can be treated the same as any typical file.
That's why you can copy and/or replace it with another file--new map file
with the same extension.
MLD- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for all the replies.
I previously tried to just copy the files to the hard drive, and then
back to a larger micro-SD.
That does not work. I get a message on the Montana that says "can't
unlock files".

There are (3) files, each starting with GMAPSUPP and ending in
extentions *.GMA, *.IMG, and *.UNL
I assume UNL stands for unlock file.

I had read elsewhere the just copying the files wouldn't work, so I
had a low expectation of success.
I also read that you could somehow move the files to a larger SD using
BaseCamp, but the instructions weren't very clear.
It was jumbled up with a discussion of how not to exceed the maximum
limit of files the Montana can "read" or use at one time.
That discussion was so jumbled up, it made very little sense to me.

Overall, my impression is Garmin (and prehaps other manufacturers, or
the industry as a whole), really should get a handle on file and layer
management in the more advanced devices.
Just adding a custom icon for one of my own proprietary data layers
was a cryptic and nebulous process to say the least, and this moving
City Navigator files is no different.

I understand the need to protect City Navigation files against
pirating, but I don't see why they need to cripple a 32GB memory slot
with a 2GB card.
At the very least, it would be nice if there were an option to
purchase the data on a larger card -- but just looking at NAVTEQ's &
Garmin's web sites, and all the forums, I guess that's a non-starter.

Next time, I'll buy the data on DVD and manage it myself to a larger
micro-SD card. Lesson learned.

- Mike

 

[Sunshine]

My thinking is that if the map on the SD card is functional (that is, it's
being used by the unit) and it is a file with the "img" extension--then it
is already " Unlocked" and can be treated the same as any typical file.
That's why you can copy and/or replace it with another file--new map file
with the same extension.

It doesn't quite work that way. In the non-pirate world, when a map is
unlocked, it's only unlocked for that device.

In the pirate world, unlocked means fully and permanently unlocked,
and not tied to any particular device. These maps can be used on any
device, multiple devices, whatever.

 

[MLD]

It doesn't quite work that way. In the non-pirate world, when a map is
unlocked, it's only unlocked for that device.

In the pirate world, unlocked means fully and permanently unlocked,
and not tied to any particular device. These maps can be used on any
device, multiple devices, whatever.

You're right--I was thinking of the *.img maps that one can get from the
"pirate" world. Another pain in the neck re-Garmin and map updates is that
many of the units do not have enough internal memory to install the new new
map update. This requires you to go out and buy an SD card adding to the
price of your update. You don't find out about this until your new map
won't install do to lack of space. Removing unnecessary files (voices,
pictures etc) still leaves you short.
MLD

 

[Sunshine]

You're right--I was thinking of the *.img maps that one can get from the
"pirate" world. Another pain in the neck re-Garmin and map updates is that
many of the units do not have enough internal memory to install the new new
map update. This requires you to go out and buy an SD card adding to the
price of your update. You don't find out about this until your new map
won't install do to lack of space. Removing unnecessary files (voices,
pictures etc) still leaves you short.
MLD

I haven't run into the lack of internal memory space issue yet, but I
do have to remove the old map before loading the new one. So far my SD
cards are all dedicated to music. (Nuvi 760)