Using SD card on TomTom without Maps

apwood

Sorry if everyone already knows this. Just thought I'd share something I found out today that surprised me.

Having upgraded the navcore app on the internal memory in my TomTom 920 I decided to install the original app on a 1Gb SD card I had - primarily so I could play around with some add-on games etc that will not work in the new app version.

Of course, there isn't room on such a small SD card to install the proper maps, so I just put the Guam map on the SD card and no other maps.

What surprised me is that my Western Europe and North America maps still worked! It must be picking them up from the internal memory even though its booting from the SD card.

Good news - I can try different versions of the app and various add-ons now without having to buy a new SD card.

DennisN · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:22 am Post subject:

You don't need a map on the SD card for it to work, only the application. When an SD card with the app on is present, the TT boots from the card. But to use a card you don't need the app on it - you could, for example have mp3s on the card, or extra different maps. Sure, you want to try other stuff using the older app, so what you're doing is fine. But it would be really worth trying to find a couple of pounds to get a bigger SD card to give yourself loadsa room to play with - with a 4 GB card you could shift one of the bigger maps (NA or EU) onto it to leave more space on the internal memory too.

In my own case, I have 920 with older app and map of Europe internally (USA map taken off completely and saved on my PC hard disk leaving about 2GB free) and on external 8GB SDHC card I have app 8.300 and map 815.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Darren

apwood · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:51 am Post subject:

I did find one problem. After booting from the SD card and using the map in the internal memory, when I then took out the SD card and rebooted from the internal memory, it lost all my settings, favorites, home location etc. Is this normal?

DennisN · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:14 am Post subject:

Are you sure you're seeing the problem correctly (map location, boot location, etc)? Settings live in a file called Mapsettings.cfg (Edit) - in the map folder. The TT creates a new one if there isn't one, so beware you find the right one from a backup copy and copy that file into the relevant map folder. A working file (with Home location, favourites etc) would be say 15KB, a newly created one about 1KB.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Andy_P · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:04 am Post subject:

No, I think it's simpler than that.

You haven't said exactly what software versions you're trying to use, but I suspect you've got something like v8.3 on the internal memory and a v7 on an Sd card?

If so, the MapSettings.cfg file formats are incompatible, so it will fail to read the file and will recreate it from scratch.

You might be able to install the same map in BOTH places (with a big enough card) and make sure the system looks at only the right map for each version, but my internal memory died terminally just as I was about to start experimenting with that.

apwood · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:07 pm Post subject:

Andy_P you're spot on. that must be what happened. I did have v7.x on the SD card and v8.32 in the internal memory.

colin_thames · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:03 pm Post subject: Other side effects of OS 8.3?

That's interesting, so OS 7.x will run latest maps 8.15? I hadn't realised that.

The only benefit I've found so far of OS 8.3 is the better voice recognition when inputting destination, you can say "yes" instead of having to use your finger.

I'll have to get an SD card now and try the old OS.

I don't seem to have stuttering voices but I did notice that maps seem to be more jerky when driving.

I have noticed that the light sensor seems very odd, giving me night time maps in pretty good daylight, and the backlight flickers at a predictable interval. Admittedly my model is a refurb - has anyone else noticed these problems with 8.3?

Apwood, have you noticed any other benefits of using v7.x on the SD card? Any disadvantages, other than not being able to access your favourites created by 8.3?

Cheers
Colin

apwood · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:16 pm Post subject:

I'm afraid I'm using v710 maps. Have been testing functionality of the v8.32 app and separately tesitng some add-ons using my old v7.x app. With app v8.30 / v8.32 I've noticed various improvements but have been told these improvements started in v8.10.

Note I intend to upgrade to the latest maps soon with my latest map guarantee and take out a map subscription, just waiting for another 11 days in the hope that the new map comes out by then.

colin_thames · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:44 pm Post subject:

Very wise Apwood. I'd be a bit miffed too if a new map came out a day after I'd updated! Just so long as you remember to do it...

I've been trying to find out where to download v8.1 or anything before v8.3 but haven't found the location. Has anyone got a link?

Will maps 8.15 work with OSv8.1, v8.2 etc? And were the fluctuating backlight, turning off randomly not a problem with those version?

Cheers

Colin

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:33 am Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 7:32 am Post subject:

	PocketGPS
	Web