Newbi Questions

[Quarkrad]

Apologies for simple questions - just purchaced GO 520. Bought Go 520 that arrived as new (been in shop display) including car charger and mount. However, have no means (apart from car charger) of charging it for the first time.

I assume it will need an initial charge - will not work straight away plugging into car. Also, it has no SD card (so presume working off internal memory) and would like to back up before installing tomtom Home software and updating. Two questions:

1. Can I use a normal 'digital camera' type USB lead to charge the tomtom from a PC usb port? (I have a USB lead that fits into the base of the 520)
2. When I connect to PC via USB cable I hope the tomtom will appear as another disk drive - do I just need to find where the system files are and copy across to PC HD to backup? (Making sure hidden files are checked in Explorer).

Thanks for any help

[Daggers]

[MaFt]

yes, 'standard' usb lead will work and it will display as an external drive.

for back up just copy the whole lot from the root of the drive! as you suggest, use explorer for this - the tomtom home backup doesn't always work as it should...

MaFt

[Quarkrad]

Thank you all. It is now connected - green light showning and I can see all 361MB via explorer. Sorry for another question - I intend to buy more maps later and put them on an SD card. If I were to buy an up to date GB map or as I intend also a French map then these go on the SD card. Is it the case that I up load POIs on to the SD card or do I put new maps on the TomTom internal HD and also the POIs? Assuming you can work off the SD card or the internal memory what the method? Unlike a PC I assume tomtom does not load from SD into memory - it must be like having two HDs. I think I am trying say what HD (internal menory or SD card) do you work from? I need to read something that tells me how the TomTom works and what files go where. E.g. do the voices and zip code files (including updates) alway reside in the internal memory even though you could be using a map (and POI files) that are being read off the SD card?

[Andy_P]

Before you do ANYTHING else, do that backup with Windows Explorer that Mike mentioned. This is vital as there is no way to get your map back if it gets lost or corrupted during an update or adding POIs etc. TomTom will make you buy a new one for ~£40-50.

Instructions are in #1 of the FAQs topic in this forum. See HERE

To answer your other questions...
If you buy a new map, you download and install it using TomTom's "Home" utility. You need v2.3 from HERE not any earlier version that may have come on the CD in the box.

If there is a suitable SD card in the slot, Home will ask you what storage location you want to use when you load it up, so select "SD card" to install the map if you wish. You can replace the map on the internal memory and install the new one there instead if you wish - it's up to you.

You are entirely right about it looking like two HD's - connect the Go to the PC WITHOUT Home running and use Windows Explorer you will see two new disk drive letters. Most of the backing up and adding POIs etc. can all be done easily from here rather than using Home.

POI files always have to be copied into the folder for the map you wish to use them with.

Be careful what you read about how it all works...
Some TomToms only have an SD card (and everything runs from there). Some only have internal memory,
and some have both.

MOST models that have both, only allow you to use one or the other, so if you use the SD card, EVERYTHING needs to be copied from the internal memory to the card, and the unit now uses the card to boot up from.

HOWEVER, the x20 and x30 models like yours CAN use both stores at once.
The easiest way is to leave everything like the operating system, the voices and the main map (with its POIs) etc.on the internal memory
and just use the SD card for extra maps and also mp3 music files if you want those.
The only thing I'm not absolutely sure about are the postcodes. They live in a folder called "zip" and I'm 90% sure they only need to be on the internal memory even if you are using a map on the SD card.
I can check that tonight if necessary.

(sorry this turned into such a long post.... )

[GPS_fan]

[Quarkrad]

Wow - thank you for so many replies in such a short time. I feel a little more confident and will now go forth into this gps world!

[GPS_fan]

That's one benefit of the forum - there's usually somebody around to help
_________________
Andy
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