Your New Year's Resolution: Backup Your GPS

 

January 1 is a day many people resolve to achieve goals. I suggest we POI Factory folks resolve to make a backup of their GPS. It is very handy if there is a problem with an update, you need a copy of you POI files, or you decide to buy another GPS and would like to transfer favorites or POI files.

It is especially a good idea for those who like to live on the cutting edge with the latest firmware updates. Remember that those who live on the cutting edge tend to bleed a lot.

To make a backup: Create a folder in your Documents folder, connect your GPS, and then copy all the files to the new folder. It may take up to an hour depending on the size of your GPS memory and the number of POIs.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

--
Brent - DriveLuxe 51 LMT-S

Good Point

It does seem that brand new updates cause the worst headaches! Backing up everything before applying an update is what we all should do.

I admit to not being very careful with this and one applied an upgrade that destroyed all my POI files. Not a very good day for me!

So backup!

Happy New Year to all POI Factory Members!

--
"Life is a journey - enjoy the ride!" Garmin nuvi 255

Backup

Good idea for everyone to do at the beginning of the new year, if they haven't done so recently.

Good idea

I will do it tonight.

Good Backup

I’ve had to use my backup once and wuz glad I had it. Backing up should be second nature to us with GPS as we do it with our computers.
Good luck in the New Year and don’t get lost!

--
John Every Day Above Ground is a Good Day! Nuvi 360,660 and 780

Great Idea

While all the amateur party-goers are out drinking and driving I will be home watching Elvis movies, eating popcorn and backing up my GPS files.

What better way to stay safe and out of the way of the drunks that will populate the roadways this New Years Eve?

Happy New Year to all.

PS It is also a good time to change the batteries in all the smoke detectors in your home if you forgot to do so when you adjusted your clocks from Daylight Savings Time.

It's not "if," it's "when" you'll need your backups...

Not only for your GPS, but also for your computer(s) -- when's the last time you did a backup? Or all the music your teenager has been loading on their iPod, which they just ran through the washing machine?

Just as important, when's the last time you retrieved something from one of those backups? Do you know how to do partial as well as full restores?

--
Nuvi 2460, 680, DATUM Tymserve 2100, Trimble Thunderbolt, Ham radio, Macintosh, Linux, Windows

Why?

I'm confused: There is a way to reset the Nüvi (770 in my case) back to factory condition, restoring all the original software, supposedly from an internal ROM that never gets changed/erased/corrupted.

The only things I would have to reenter are the Europe 2009 update (I have that file from when I downloaded it), the custom POI (I have that on my computer as well). So the only other data I can think of are the favorites. There are much faster ways to save a copy of these than backing up the whole device. I have no problem loosing the auto-tracking data anyway.

What am I missing?

RE: Why?

From what I've read that the files in the GPS can be actual computer files and they can be erased. In the Garmin manual it warns of this when deleting files. My Mio doesn't seem to be seen by my computer and it's manual doesn't say anything about the possibility of erasing data.

Happy New Year everyone!!

--
It's a good thing that there's GPS systems or I would be ... always lost!