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GPS reading SD card?

popeye85

By popeye85
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popeye85

+popeye85

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I am just wondering if anyone knows how to check if my GPS is reading the micro SD card. I have a etrex30 and have put 32gb card in and download maps onto it but when I switch it on no maps appear. I have formatted the card but still nothing! is there an basic steps i'm missing? is there any way to check that the unit is actually reading the card?

thanks.

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HHL

+HHL

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Posted (edited)

Just a rough guess: You might have just forgot to create a Garmin folder within the SD-card. All the Garmin stuff should be placed into that folder. Caution: Pois and Gpx files should also have there own sub folders within the Garmin folder.

 

Hans

Edited by HHL
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msrubble

+msrubble

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Of the eTrex 30 is anything like the earlier Oregon and Montana, the supplemental maps on the memory card have to be inside a folder called Garmin. If the memory card doesn't have a Garmin directory at top level, create one and copy the maps into it.

 

Also, be sure to have a waypoint or geocache on the eTrex that would fall in the area that the map covers. If you look for that waypoint by name, you can see whether the custom map appears when you look at the waypoint on the map and zoom in enough to see some detail.

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kunarion

+kunarion

Posted
Posted (edited)

I am just wondering if anyone knows how to check if my GPS is reading the micro SD card. I have a etrex30 and have put 32gb card in and download maps onto it but when I switch it on no maps appear. I have formatted the card but still nothing! is there an basic steps i'm missing? is there any way to check that the unit is actually reading the card?

thanks.

You could place a Geocache GPX file on the card in /GARMIN/GPX. A new cache should show up. Once you know the GPSr is reading the SD card, you can rule out that issue. The SD card needs to be formatted to "FAT32" and therefore should have a 4GB card capacity or less. I been fortunate to be able to format any SD card without special software and haven't seen StefanD's issue in the post above, but if you can't seem to format it, you could try some special software or get a new SD card.

 

You keep saying "maps", as if you have multiple files. Get a map file specially formatted Garmin, which should be "gmapsupp.img". Place just that one file onto the SD card, and see if you have a map now. If so, then work on loading more. They each need a distinct file name, of course, but they must be actual Garmin map format "IMG" map files.

 

You may have a factory-installed "gmapsupp.img". Back it up first. You might as well back up all the GPSr files just in case.

 

Here are a couple of sites that may help in case you've missed a step:

Openstreetmap

Instructables

Edited by kunarion
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cachepohl

+cachepohl

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Posted (edited)

First of all: So far I never had any issues with SD cards formatted either on Windows or Mac. They simply should be formatted in standard FAT file format.

 

As for the increase of memory - it's simply not shown, just like your computer does not show an increase either.

GPS receivers see SD cards as additional input, while their own actions reside on the internal storage.

 

This said, here's an example of how my SD Card for my Garmin (Oregon, but afaik the handling is always the same) is structured :

 

\GARMIN This is the folder on an SD card the Garmin device reads, it ignores everything outside this folder - other files or folders on top level.

It's the folder I store my OSM-maps (*.img files) in

\GARMIN\GPX This is the folder to store GPX files, either single files for each cache downloaded from the individual cache description pages

or collections of caches stored together in files (like pocket queries)

 

To use the img maps you store in the GARMIN folder, you'll probably need to mark them active in the device' map management (on Oregon Setup->Map).

Be sure to use the right additional maps for the device, so something like OSM for Garmin - such maps are always a single file, sometimes initially called 'gmapsupp.img'.

They can be renamed to place several maps into the folder, the device looks for *.img, not for the name.

E.g. my maps are named 'Freizeit_DE.img', 'Freizeit_NL.img', 'Freizeit.FR.img' etc (using the OSM based "Freizeitkarte" for regions Germany, Netherlands and France).

 

Hope it helps a bit

Michael

 

Edit: and it seems I added my reply in parallel to kunarion :)

Edited by cachepohl
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cachepohl

+cachepohl

Posted
Posted

I just took a closer look at the Device Manager tool and it lists the contents of my Garmin quite appropriately, separated into internal memory and SD card (when plugged by USB with SD card placed in the device), so indeed it can be a good tool to check if the card contents is ok.

Thanks for the hint, kunarion!

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popeye85

+popeye85

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Posted (edited)
You could place a Geocache GPX file on the card in /GARMIN/GPX. A new cache should show up. Once you know the GPSr is reading the SD card you can rule out that issue

 

Since I place my caches in GPX file on my unit anyway how do I know if it is going on the card or just on the unit as per? I was almost expecting to see another folder that indicated that it was reading the card???

 

Confused.com

Edited by popeye85
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kunarion

+kunarion

Posted
Posted
You could place a Geocache GPX file on the card in /GARMIN/GPX. A new cache should show up. Once you know the GPSr is reading the SD card you can rule out that issue

 

Since I place my caches in GPX file on my unit anyway how do I know if it is going on the card or just on the unit as per? I was almost expecting to see another folder that indicated that it was reading the card???

 

Confused.com

Two drive windows when I plug my GPSr into the USB port, one for the internal memory, one for the installed SD card. If you aren't seeing that, you may have to remove the card, plug it into the PC, and load it that way. While the card's out of the GPSr, check it to be sure it's showing as formatted in "FAT32".

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kunarion

+kunarion

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Posted

sorry don't follow. do you mean that 2 windows should open up at the same time?

 

YES. One for the unit and one for the sd-card.

 

Hans

Right. On my Win 7 PC, I get two new drives when I plug my Garmin into the USB port. "Garmin Oregon 650t (G:)" (the GPSr), and "0101155100 (H:)" (the SD card). It's easy to set up a PC to not do Autoplay, even unknowingly. So you can instead watch the Windows Explorer to see any drives that appear which weren't there before.

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on4bam

+on4bam

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Posted

NEVER format a SD card with standard Mac or Windows! They don't comply with the SD/SDHC/SDXC standards and the chance is great units won't recognize them any more.

Instead, download and use the program from sdcard.org to format your SD card.

 

I've always formatted my memorycards (any kind) on my PC. Never had a problem.

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