File System (Format) For SD Card

No, have not tried yet. It should be OK with Windows. But it will give 8GB file size flexibility instead of 4 GB file size.

The easiest solution is to try it. Worst case, the Garmin won't recognize it. In that case, just put it back in your computer and format it FAT32. It shouldn't be an issue even with 32GB SD Cards.

Post back with the results.

From Garmin info it looks like they are only using FAT or FAT32 systems. So if they didn't implement any other type of file system it will not work. Below link to info from Garmin how to format cards to make them work with GPS:

http://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId={f6af3290-19a5-11e0-7efa-000000000000}

I'd not thought about it before so unable to respond.

The advantage of exFat is a single file can exceed 4 GB. I don't think we can make use of that advantage in our GPS units.

As mentioined earlier, you can always just give it a try. If exFat is not recognized by the device, then put the card back in your PC/Laptop and reformat it Fat32.

Regards,

Thinking on this matter about using the convert command to convert FAT to NTSF but reading this info, I guess NTSF is not supported with Garmin devices

Only FAT32 is.

Stick with FAT32 format; it works!

Sadly only FAT32 works.

Thanks for the info. I hadn't had a chance to try it so I thought I'd see if anyone else did.

Thanks again.

I see no reason why anyone wants Garmin to read ExFAT or NTFS. FAT32 (with its 4GB per file limit) should be good enough for now. The largest file at this time is approximately 2GB (North America map). Do you have any single file larger than 4GB?

Just thinking down the line and if it was possible now (that's all). I'm sure one day it will become relevant.

I agree with the other commenters, at this point there's no advantage to exFAT even if it worked in the NUVI (which it doesn't). Stick with FAT32.

With an old Garmin only recognizing a FAT32 format on the SD card, how does one get more map data on a 8GB SD card?

I have a Garmin etrex Legend HCx, version 3.20 firmware, with an 8GB SD card. Excellent, old technology. Even though exFAT format was introduced in 2006, which would allow an entire 8GB SD card to be utilizable, it was not supported by Garmin. SD cards come in 8, 16,32,64, and currently 128GB sizes. Those of us who bought Garmin Mapsource U.S. Topo 2.0, and later Garmin Topo U.S. 2008, were sad to find that we could not load the entire Topo on our Garmins. Not that we needed it, but just a matter of "convienience". The entire map, if loaded, is more than the 4GB allowed by Garmin, according to an error popup in Topo 2008. Worse, FAT32 only allows addressability to 2GB maximum, or 4GB with an unsupported FAT32 configuration. I will describe what I did, to get the most onto my Garmin etrex Legend. For legal reasons, I am not telling you to do these things, as absurd as that sounds. I am saying, this is what I did, and for ease, I am presenting it as directions. Before doing anything, save what is in your GPS, as you will be formatting the SD card.

1. From the Topo program, download from your GPS the mapset you have, and save it to a directory of your choice. Power off the GPS and disconnect it from you computer.

2. Open up the back of the GPS, and remove the SD card by pushing down on it, and it should pop up for removal. Observe which direction it came out.

3. Plug the SDC into a good, fast card reader. I use, and recommend, IOGEAR mod# GFR304SD. Start up your computer, insert the SDC into the reader, then plug in the USB reader into the computer USB slot.

4. Format the SDC. Use a reputable disk program that allows you to format the SDC in FAT32. The Default cluster size is typically 4kB. Change it to 16kB. If your program does not allow you to do this, use another program that will.

5. Standard FAT32 limits card addressability to 2GB. Also there is a limitation on file size. The GPS uses one large .img file, in which all of the map sections are indexed into it. You increase the file size capacity by using clusters that are 16kb, not 4kB. DO NOT MAKE IT A 32 kB CLUSTER, OR LARGER.

6. The 2GB addressability will never be reached, because of Garmin's index restrictions. In the Topo program, zoom out at 500 or 700 miles, allowing the entire Topo to be viewable. Click on the selection tool with your mouse, then select an area you are interested in, by holding down the left mouse button, and dragging. When you let off the button, it will in a moment, select all of the sections within the area you drew out. Note, you may draw out in areas that have no sections, in order to get those sections in an irregular shape, like the shape of Alaska with its trailing islands.

7. You can make multiple selections. Select say, Alaska, then a part of the Pacific Northwest, and then maybe Appalachia, in seperate selections.
Then, Save As, give a name, and save it. You have saved only the selection, not the maps.

8. Now click the download to GPS button. You are NOT downloading to your GPS, but to the card reader containing your SDC. IF YOU CHOOSE TO DOWNLOAD TO THE GPS WITH AN SDC INSTALLED, YOU MAY DO SO. The process may take longer. The status will recognize the device, possibly saying Drive F:/, or the name of your GPS if you are doing it that way. The maps checkbox will be pre-selected. Click to start the image creation.

9. The Index will be built. If you have selected too many sections, it may report that too many sections have been selected. It may be a number like 3000. Or it may report you have maybe 75 too many. If so, cancel the image creation, and do a File New within Topo, and your old selection will disapear. Make a newer, smaller selection(s), and save it.

10. Begin the image creation / download to your SDC once again. The Index will be built, and if successful, it will go on to building the map files within the .img file being created. This may take up to a couple of hours.
When completed, it then will automatically download the .img file to your SDC. This may take another 2 hours. When all is done, it will report it was done successfully, and at that time, shut down the Topo application.

11. Go to the lower taskbar in Windows (XP, in my case), at the lower right corner, you will see an icon for a flash drive, left click on it, then left click on the popup. Remove the reader, then the SDC, and place the SDC in your GPS. Boot up your GPS. It will take a little longer to boot up, as the index being loaded is much larger.

I pushed as much into the GPS as I could, and the one .img file was about 1.2GB. Current Garmin topo applications may require you to unlock the maps online through Garmin, for functionality. Also, reconnect your GPS, download and save maps, waypoints, routes and tracks. I also remove the SDC, and save the image file to another drive. If the SDC becomes corrupted, it is less time consuming to just transfer the .img file to the new SDC, rather than wait hours for a new map file to be built and transferred to your etrex. If your computer hardware supports USB 3.0, and you are using the IOGEAR USB 3.0 reader with an SDC that has a write speed of 95MB / sec., you won't have to wait long.