Proper way to backup a fully operational Gamin Nuvi 660 ??

It's pretty straight forward to do a backup.
1- Plug your Nuvi into your computer via USB cable.
2- Using Windows Explorer, create a folder on your hard drive and name it 660 Backup or a name of your choice.
3- Navigate to the drive letter of your Nuvi,
click on "Edit"(upper left), then "select all"
now hold the "control key down" and drag the files to your backup folder you have created.
4- To restore, just chose a file or all files and reverse the procedure holding down the "control key" and dragging the file or files from your backup folder on your hard drive to the nuvi drive.

Note: If you are only copying one file or a few, MAKE CERTAIN" you copy them back to the proper subfolder on the nuvi since it will be looking for them in that location, if they are not in the proper sub folder the function will not work.

That was the first thing I did when I got the Nuvi 260 four years ago and last week with my 2460LMT, even before getting updates.

My 660 failed where the touchscreen would not work anymore, but I was still able to connect via USB and transfer the favorites over...I never backed it up, not sure what else could be backed up...

When you connect a GPS to a PC, all folders & files seen from the PC can be copied/backed up. That is what I do.

Bad touchscreens are common in that series. The one in my 660 went bad & I had it replaced by Jim at Sharcnet. Still working fine.

I would only worry about backing up the current.gpx file which contains your favorites.

Remember that the actual operating system files are in a hidden partition which you can't access/copy.

Too often we hear about someone who was trying to format their SD card who formatted the GPS drive.

It takes only a few minutes. Back everything up.
see http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394
for complete instructions

I agree, backing up your favorites on a regular basis will save you a lot of heartache later. If you are like me I only need a back up when I didn't do one.

But remember, there is a big difference between backing up the 260 or 660 compared to the 2460 (or any other newer Nuvi). The difference is that if your just doing a simple copy of the contents of your GPS you'll miss the most important folder, .system, which contains all the map files. Unless you have changed the folder options in Windows to display all hidden system files and folders the .system folder will not be visible, so will not get copied.

With the older models (3xx, 6xx, 2xx, 7xx) there is no hidden folder, so a simply copy of the contents of the Nuvi will contain ALL files on the GPS.

EVERYONE - If you have not changed your computer settings, follow these instructions to do so:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30393

Life will be so much easier if you do.

@sky173d - isn't that the truth.

I learned the hard way also. Now I back up just in case but haven't needed it since.

I'm certainly not going to make a backup of my nuvi 360. I don't want any reason to try to revive it when it gives up the ghost. I need it to die so that I don't go through a guilt trip when I replace it.

I had recently bought a 3790lmt but I couldn't justify it to myself while my reliable 360 was still chugging along. So back it went to Costco within a week. Without breaking it myself, I'm hoping that my old reliable gps stops working so that I won't feel guilty getting a new toy.

If you're like me, keep that in mind before you make a backup.

I finally got around to trying to backup the 660.

Simply will not copy... I select all, copy, open up destination and paste.. Nothing copies..
If I select the audio folder only, it copies..
Nothing else..

Thought it might have something to do with hidden files, so I enabled them... Still no copy and paste...

W7-64

???

Follow these instructions
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394

Good for you for doing a backup.

Like I said.....

I'm copying and paste-ing and it's Not Copying!!

I don't understand...

I Know how to copy and paste....

It will copy the audio folder.... But nothing else...

I'm quite familiar with copying and paste-ing....

It will work on any drive except the 660....

It will work on the audio SD card I have in the 660 but will not backup the 660...

?????

Using Windows 7 -64 os

So I thought I'd just select the folders and create a Zip file of the contents....
Highlight all Send To: Compressed format

It says there is not enough space on the drive....

I've 200 GB free on the drive in question!!

Must be something unusual going on...

Not doing this via network... directly off USB drive on laptop...

???

Garmin drive in GPS has 217Mb free.

Just as a test, try turning off UAC (User Account Control) in Win 7 and see if that works. Make sure you are logged into Win7 with an Admin level user account.

Where are you trying to store your backup copy?

Was logged in as administrator

I highlighted all directories on the Garmin Drive....

Selected copy

Then switched to a different Physical drive (I tried two different drives -- Where I put downloads, and a second media drive -- Neither one worked.... I will try the other suggestions later today )

I'll also try a different physical computer...

I think you are exceeding the size of the "Copy" Buffer. The map file alone is over 2 Gigs and this is just too much for the computer to handle.

Do a right-click drag and drop using the "Copy" option to be safe. This does not use a buffer.

Tried it on a XP Home computer... Admin login...

Dragged and dropped into other folder:

"Cannot Copy File -- Cannot Read from the Source file or Disk"

Must be something on 660 ???

Try one file to a drive on your PC to see if that will work. If you can see the files, I can not understand why your cannot copy them.