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Garmin eTrex 10 memory full bug?


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I got an eTrex 10 about three weeks ago. I've been dropping pocket queries in the Garmin>GPX folder as explained in a YouTube video that I did not bookmark, and removing them the same way. I'm using a Mac with OS 10.5.8.

 

Right now, there is nothing in the folder except the Current folder, containing Current.gpx (4KB) and the Nav folder (empty). As far as I can tell, there's nothing else taking up much room on my GPS. When I turn on the GPS and navigate to my geocaches menu button, nothing shows up. However, it won't let me add any pocket queries manually or using Basecamp because it the memory is too low, and I'm getting a low memory warning. When I "Get Info" about the device, it says I'm using 7.8 MB of space, but adding up everything on the device, it should only have a little over 1MB on it. I've done a master reset twice, and it has had no effect.

 

I've emailed Garmin, but I figured maybe someone here had this problem and knew a quick fix. Any ideas? Did I just get a defective unit? I've looked around the forums here but so far haven't found an answer.

 

Thanks!

 

EDIT: And not 30 seconds after I hit send, I finally found an answer on Garmin's website. I had skipped the step of emptying the trash on my computer, so for some reason it was still reading that the device was full. Everything appears to be working perfectly now. I'll leave this up in case anyone has the same problem, though.

Edited by peppermintplant
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EDIT: And not 30 seconds after I hit send, I finally found an answer on Garmin's website. I had skipped the step of emptying the trash on my computer, so for some reason it was still reading that the device was full. Everything appears to be working perfectly now. I'll leave this up in case anyone has the same problem, though.

 

Just a point of clarity. The reason the device was still being read as full is that it WAS still full. When you put something in the trash, all the Mac does is move the pointer to the files to another folder, which happens to be call Trash. Now you can't see the files unless you peek into the trash can. So they still reside on the disk (device) and continue to use all the original space until you tell the system you actually want to get rid of the files. You do that by emptying the trash. It is only then that space is freed up.

Edited by GeoTrekker26
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EDIT: And not 30 seconds after I hit send, I finally found an answer on Garmin's website. I had skipped the step of emptying the trash on my computer, so for some reason it was still reading that the device was full. Everything appears to be working perfectly now. I'll leave this up in case anyone has the same problem, though.

 

Just a point of clarity. The reason the device was still being read as full is that it WAS still full. When you put something in the trash, all the Mac does is move the pointer to the files to another folder, which happens to be call Trash. Now you can't see the files unless you peek into the trash can. So they still reside on the disk (device) and continue to use all the original space until you tell the system you actually want to get rid of the files. You do that by emptying the trash. It is only then that space is freed up.

 

Weird, I did not know that. Thanks for the reply!

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The operating system (OS/X) on the Mac has a “feature” that Apple forces you to have which mostly is just a nuisance for those of us that never reach into the trash to pull out stuff we have thrown away. Generally with tons of hard drive space this is not a serious problem but for cameras, gpsrs, phones, sd cards, etc it will invariably cause you trouble when you are away from the computer.

 

The problem is 3-fold: Trashes, fsevents, and Spotlight.

  • Trashes is the trash bin. So unless you can always remember to empty the trash after you delete, you have crap you no longer want clogging up space.
  • Fsevent is another bit of silliness that someone at Apple thinks is important.
  • Spotlight is a tool that lets you rapidly find stuff. For it to work, Spotlight indexes your drives and writes files in which it stores information so it can rapidly find stuff. These files are hidden so you cannot tell that they are taking up space.

Here is how you fix this. (This is a bit tricky so you need to do it carefully).

 

1. Attach the device which the Mac will then see as a removable hard drive.

 

2. Among your Applications find Textedit and open it. Copy and paste the following 6 lines into the Textedit application:

mdutil -i off /Volumes/RemovableDriveName
cd /Volumes/RemovableDriveName
rm -rf .{,_.}{fseventsd,Spotlight-V*,Trashes}
mkdir .fseventsd
touch .fseventsd/no_log .metadata_never_index .Trashes
cd -

3. Now using Finder aim at the removable drive in the navigation pane and right-click, Get Info, under "Name & Extension", where it shows the name, copy its name to the clipboard. If you don’t see a name there, then type one in that makes sense (keep it short and simple), and then copy it to the clipboard.

 

4. Now in first and second line of the text in Textedit replace RemovableDriveName with the name of the device by blocking and pasting (this should avoid typos).

 

5. Now block all 6 lines of text and copy them to the clipboard.

 

6. In your Applications folder find the Utilities and launch the Terminal application. With the cursor at the prompt, Paste those 6 lines. Inspect how it processes these lines; after the first one should be a response “Indexing and searching disabled”. The other lines will just do what they are supposed to without giving a response.

 

Now think about all the other sd cards, camcorders, mobile phones, cameras, and memory sticks that ought to get the same treatment and do the same for those.

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Hynr: That scripting solution of yours might be too tricky for some users. This is simpler: BlueHarvest automates and backgrounds this kind of clean up.

 

But is that even necessary? I've never found emotying the trash/recycle bin on Mac or PC to be a difficult task. Nor have I had run out of space on a GPS or other removeable media due to Spotlight or other OS features you mentioned.

 

The ONLY time I've found BlueHarvest to be helpful with a GPS is on some Garmin models (and only in some firmware revisions) where the GPS would have problems with any invisible "dot" files on the media. That was a bug on Garmin's side (not playing nice with documented features of other operating systems), but it has been fixed in newer firmware.

Edited by user13371
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"Is it necessary"? - probably not for many users and particularly folks who have no trouble keeping track of how full each of their devices are with trash. I personally do not have that skill. Alas, for me it is necessary. I got stuck with my digital camera where I had previously filled the memory with images and then deleted those with my Mac to completely delete all the stuff and made sure the folder was empty. Went out on a field trip with my students and after the first three picture had the camera tell me that it was out of storage space. :( It only takes one such catastrophe to get you thinking that it is necessary, particularly if you typically do not go into the trashbin to retrieve stuff.

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You can drag stuff the trash, yet right-clicking the Trash Can to select "Empty Trash" eludes you? Never found Command-Shift-Delete either?

 

So you write a shell script to empty the trash and needlessly delete system indexes. You customize it for every named piece of removable media you have. You run it every time you have something in the trash - by copying and pasting it from a text editor into the terminal window?

 

Do your socks get wet because you can't figure out how to put on shoes? :D

 

Or did you find out a better way to protect your socks with plastic wrap and duct tape, because wearing shoes is too complicated? :D :D :D

Edited by user13371
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Lately I've been managing PQ files from the terminal. It's quite easy to run unzip and point the output to the GPS device, and go into the /Volumes/GPSNAME/Garmin/GPX folder and rm *.gpx. Granted, I keep only geocaches on the SD card and waypoints and tracks on the GPS itself, so it's easy to only delete the pocket query files. But all of my pocket queries seem to start with a number 11******_PQ_NAME.gpx, so I can also use rm 11*.gpx and only get rid of the PQ files.

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I had the same with my eTrex 10 a couple of years ago I called Garmin and they couldn't help just wanted me to send them the GPS and replace it for around £80 or £90, but with work and other things I gave up on geocaching for a while and was very close to chucking the GPS in the bin, but today I was looking to buy a new GPS meter when I found this fix.

All I can say is a massive big thank you, all the time I was thinking it was the GPS meter at fault when it was my Mac causing it all along Garmin should have known this not try to sell me a new one....

Edited by reevco
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