Can I store geocaches on the micro sd? AND

March 16, 2016

I have a Garmin etrex 20x.

I just purchased an sd card and haven't yet loaded it with anything.

I put an openstreet map, as well as MANY caches (about 1000) on the device itself. With my cell phone, I always run out of space with photos, etc. My frame of reference and experience with the phone may be unnecessarily skewing my concern.

My questions:

1. Can I put the caches directly on the SD card? And, if so, will they pop up when I am nearby to a cache that is stored here?

2. Can I drag and drop directly without the need of a card reader? When I connect my device to the computer, I can't see the microSD card? Does this make sense? . Is this an option? I ordered a USB card reader and it will be here by the end of the week. But would prefer to bypass this. Seems like there must be a way.

Thanks in advance. I am SLOWLY get the hang of the technology piece of this. Hoping that I will be able to help some people here in the future. It is such a great resource. :wub:

3.8k · March 16, 2016

Well you should do one of 2 things. Either take all those caches off, or set up a weekly PQ. Even in a week all that date gets old. Caches get archived, moved, disabled. Hints and descriptions get changed. Even logs get added. So you might be looking for a cache in the side of the road, when it's really in someone's garage getting fixed, for example.

When you connect the GPS it shot show as just the how connected, not the SD card. After all the SD card isn't conected to the computer. As for drag and drop, assuming you have the right type of file and put it in the right location on the card, it should work. Although it would probably be easier to do it through the GPS. This is just geberal info and may vary bit from each device.

Now I'm not sure how the GPS chooses to store info so someone with that model would have to tell you how to specify cqch3s going to the GPS or the SD card.

1k · March 16, 2016

You not only can, you actually should put all your caches and maps on the SD card instead of the internal memory. That way, if you ever make a mistake or get a corrupted map or GPX file, you just remove the card and your device will boot normally.

If you're not seeing two file devices when you connect your GPS with a card added, perhaps the card is not formatted as FAT32?

1.4k · March 16, 2016

To directly answer one of your questions: caches placed on the micro SD card behave just as the do when they are on the internal memory. And you do not need a card reader, although it may be faster than loading to the card through the GPS. Are you sure the card is properly seated in the mounting because you should see both the GPS and SD card as drives?

And I strongly agree with JohnCNA that you should store caches only on the card. Doing so has saved me several times in the field when the GPS froze on a cache.

March 17, 2016

To directly answer one of your questions: caches placed on the micro SD card behave just as the do when they are on the internal memory. And you do not need a card reader, although it may be faster than loading to the card through the GPS. Are you sure the card is properly seated in the mounting because you should see both the GPS and SD card as drives?

And I strongly agree with JohnCNA that you should store caches only on the card. Doing so has saved me several times in the field when the GPS froze on a cache.

I'll try loading the card again to make sure it's seated correctly. It is brand new and "not formatted"...not that I know, lol. How does one go about formatting it? I just took it out of the package and loaded it in.

Thanks for the tips and continued advice on this.

March 17, 2016

Well you should do one of 2 things. Either take all those caches off, or set up a weekly PQ. Even in a week all that date gets old. Caches get archived, moved, disabled. Hints and descriptions get changed. Even logs get added. So you might be looking for a cache in the side of the road, when it's really in someone's garage getting fixed, for example.

These are very good points that I hadn't considered.

The recent activity is often so helpful in providing subtle hints. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

March 17, 2016

You not only can, you actually should put all your caches and maps on the SD card instead of the internal memory. That way, if you ever make a mistake or get a corrupted map or GPX file, you just remove the card and your device will boot normally.

If you're not seeing two file devices when you connect your GPS with a card added, perhaps the card is not formatted as FAT32?

CORRUPTED?!?!? YIKES! lol. Keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

I plan to google "FAT32" as I'm not sure how to do that. Any tips whilst I google are appreciated.

Thanks again!!

March 17, 2016

You not only can, you actually should put all your caches and maps on the SD card instead of the internal memory. That way, if you ever make a mistake or get a corrupted map or GPX file, you just remove the card and your device will boot normally.

If you're not seeing two file devices when you connect your GPS with a card added, perhaps the card is not formatted as FAT32?

CORRUPTED?!?!? YIKES! lol. Keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

I plan to google "FAT32" as I'm not sure how to do that. Any tips whilst I google are appreciated.

Thanks again!!

GOOGLE is a magical thing!! I guess the "removable storage" I was expecting to see would be located within the "Garmin etrex" (drive f on my pc) but it appears to be listed separately as "Removable disk" (drive g)...Does this sound correct? Yesterday I opened the Garmin and it wasn't within that as I expected. I formatted with a simple right click. Ahhh!!

Now to drag and drop.

1.4k · March 17, 2016

You're on your way! Enjoy. BTW: Are you using pocket queries?

Edited March 17, 2016 by GeoTrekker26

March 17, 2016

I am using pocket queries. They are an amazing way to bulk download caches.

I loaded the openstreetmaps on the sd card. But unfortunately, the gpx caches from my pq will only show when they are on the device. I seem to remember somewhere (I think on the forums) that I needed to have a "gpx" folder on the card(????) Not sure.

For now the caches from my recent pq are happily on the device. Let's hope it doesn't crash before I figure it out. LOL!!

Thanks again!!!

14k · March 17, 2016

You not only can, you actually should put all your caches and maps on the SD card instead of the internal memory. That way, if you ever make a mistake or get a corrupted map or GPX file, you just remove the card and your device will boot normally.

If you're not seeing two file devices when you connect your GPS with a card added, perhaps the card is not formatted as FAT32?

CORRUPTED?!?!? YIKES! lol. Keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

I plan to google "FAT32" as I'm not sure how to do that. Any tips whilst I google are appreciated.

Thanks again!!

GOOGLE is a magical thing!! I guess the "removable storage" I was expecting to see would be located within the "Garmin etrex" (drive f on my pc) but it appears to be listed separately as "Removable disk" (drive g)...Does this sound correct? Yesterday I opened the Garmin and it wasn't within that as I expected. I formatted with a simple right click. Ahhh!!

Now to drag and drop.

"removable storage" is probably more accurate as it would include any type of medium plugged into computer (memory cards, SD cards, flash drives, and even external hard drives). Any of these can be formatted such that it appears to the computer as a "drive". The drive letter (drive f, drive f) may be different depending what other devices you have in your computer. The system assigns a drive letter whenever it encounters a new device that is plugged in. If, for example, you had a flash drive plugged in and it was identified as "drive d", plugging in your GPS would result in two new drive assignments; one of the internal memory (drive e) and one for the SD card (drive f). If you remove the USB cable from the GPS, and remove the flash drive, and plug the GPS back in, the system would assign the letters using the next available drive letters (drive d and drive e).

Typically the main hard drive in a computer is drive C. if you're wondering why it doesn't use drive A or drive B it's because old computers often had two "floppy disc drives" and drive A and drive B were reserved for those.

3.4k · March 17, 2016

I guess the "removable storage" I was expecting to see would be located within the "Garmin etrex" (drive f on my pc) but it appears to be listed separately as "Removable disk" (drive g)...Does this sound correct?

YES

1.4k · March 17, 2016

I am using pocket queries. They are an amazing way to bulk download caches.

I loaded the openstreetmaps on the sd card. But unfortunately, the gpx caches from my pq will only show when they are on the device. I seem to remember somewhere (I think on the forums) that I needed to have a "gpx" folder on the card(????) Not sure.

For now the caches from my recent pq are happily on the device. Let's hope it doesn't crash before I figure it out. LOL!!

Thanks again!!!

You got it. You need to create a GPX folder inside a folder named Garmin ([DISC NAME]:\Garmin\GPX). Move your pocket queries to the GPX folder and they will work just fine.

2.7k · March 17, 2016

To directly answer one of your questions: caches placed on the micro SD card behave just as the do when they are on the internal memory. And you do not need a card reader, although it may be faster than loading to the card through the GPS. Are you sure the card is properly seated in the mounting because you should see both the GPS and SD card as drives?

And I strongly agree with JohnCNA that you should store caches only on the card. Doing so has saved me several times in the field when the GPS froze on a cache.

I'll try loading the card again to make sure it's seated correctly. It is brand new and "not formatted"...not that I know, lol. How does one go about formatting it? I just took it out of the package and loaded it in.

Thanks for the tips and continued advice on this.

We use Etrex 20s and have never formatted an SD, we just plug in and play. No problem so far.

March 17, 2016

I am using pocket queries. They are an amazing way to bulk download caches.

I loaded the openstreetmaps on the sd card. But unfortunately, the gpx caches from my pq will only show when they are on the device. I seem to remember somewhere (I think on the forums) that I needed to have a "gpx" folder on the card(????) Not sure.

For now the caches from my recent pq are happily on the device. Let's hope it doesn't crash before I figure it out. LOL!!

Thanks again!!!

You got it. You need to create a GPX folder inside a folder named Garmin ([DISC NAME]:\Garmin\GPX). Move your pocket queries to the GPX folder and they will work just fine.

SO helpful! Thanks GeoTrekker26!!

March 17, 2016

Thanks for the comments, I never thought of storing geocaches on a card and has given me much to consider.

March 17, 2016

You got it. You need to create a GPX folder inside a folder named Garmin ([DISC NAME]:\Garmin\GPX). Move your pocket queries to the GPX folder and they will work just fine.

So I'm thinking about this...analyzing(as I always do, lol)...having the "Garmin" folder with a "GPX" folder allows my device to recognize the files?? Aren't they the same thing? Sorry to keep harping on this, but I can't seem to wrap my head around it. I will try tomorrow when I get to my computer.

7.8k · March 17, 2016

So I'm thinking about this...analyzing(as I always do, lol)...having the "Garmin" folder with a "GPX" folder allows my device to recognize the files?? Aren't they the same thing? Sorry to keep harping on this, but I can't seem to wrap my head around it. I will try tomorrow when I get to my computer.

The device is programmed to look for the files in that specific location: the GPX folder inside the Garmin folder inside the SD card/internal memory. If you put the files anywhere else, it won't find them because it isn't designed to search around for them. Remember, it's just a "dumb" computer that does what it's told. :laughing:

March 17, 2016

You got it. You need to create a GPX folder inside a folder named Garmin ([DISC NAME]:\Garmin\GPX). Move your pocket queries to the GPX folder and they will work just fine.

So I'm thinking about this...analyzing(as I always do, lol)...having the "Garmin" folder with a "GPX" folder allows my device to recognize the files?? Aren't they the same thing? Sorry to keep harping on this, but I can't seem to wrap my head around it. I will try tomorrow when I get to my computer.

March 18, 2016

So I'm thinking about this...analyzing(as I always do, lol)...having the "Garmin" folder with a "GPX" folder allows my device to recognize the files?? Aren't they the same thing? Sorry to keep harping on this, but I can't seem to wrap my head around it. I will try tomorrow when I get to my computer.

The device is programmed to look for the files in that specific location: the GPX folder inside the Garmin folder inside the SD card/internal memory. If you put the files anywhere else, it won't find them because it isn't designed to search around for them. Remember, it's just a "dumb" computer that does what it's told.

Thank you!!

On another note, can I delete the duplicate post? Not sure what happened! :huh:

March 18, 2016

As above I always load my maps and cache files to my gps SD card.

However I went out to do a long series one day and on arrival discovered that the cache file was not being read (back home, realized not loaded doh!). Fortunately I had also loaded the cache file to my phone SD card for C.geo use.

To make everything similar by chance I had placed it in same folder structure of gps. After initial panic and not really wishing to use phone for navigation a light went on. A quick change of SD cards gave me the cache series on the gps.

Loss of map ( on the gps) was no problem due the clear route that we were to follow.

As a further backup I now have my maps also on the phone SD (but not in any folder as per gps).

Can I store geocaches on the micro sd? AND

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Join the conversation