255w replace old factory install map with the new 2015.10 internally?

 

Hello. Just got a 255w for a trip to Europe. It came with the Europe map on an SD and the newest 2015.10 map on another SD card. The preinstalled north american map is very old 2012. So I see no reason to ever need it or even use it.

So is it possible to take the 2015.10 file off the SD & replace the preinstalled old 2012 & just kill off that old preinstalled map?

I see the 2015.10 file is in a /Garmin directory on the SD card & on the 255w is the /Garmin directory but not sure if it is as simple as copying & paste over the gmapsupp.img file? On the 255w are many others files in the /Garmin directory so not so sure how to proceed? I understand some of the /Garmin files on the 255w would stay & I have cleaned out some junk language files & voices & EULA garbage already.

The goal is to update the internal map with the newer 2015 & use the SD slot for my Europe map. 2012 internally preinstalled map is now worthless so it needs to go bye bye.

Thanks in advance for any help.

The Answer is NO

Welcome to the forum.

You CANNOT transfer the 2015.10 map from the SD card to the 255W and have it work. The map on the SD card is tied to that SD card. It has a file for an unlock code that unlocks the map for the SD card. It will not unlock the map if copied to the 255W.

You can, However, put that SD card in another Nuvi and it will work. To speed things up you should go into your Map Info screen and uncheck the 2012 map.
When needing to use the 2015.10 map, just insert the SD card and make sure in the Map Info page that the 2015.10 is checked and the 2012 map is not. When in Europe use the same procedure.

--
Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

Hey thanks. Yes I have put

Hey thanks.

Yes I have put the SD card with the newer 2015 map in & selected it - and unselected the 2012 map - so it worked that way. BUT i notice every time I restart the device with the newer 2015 map inserted the gps rechecks the 2012 map oddly so i have to keep unchecking it which is annoying & easy to forget to do & then you have 2 conflicting maps checked. This does not happen when Europe is installed through restarts, 2012 stays unchecked.

PS - you are wrong about 1 thing. I can & have moved the 2015.10 map to any SD card i want. It came on an SD card much bigger than the +-3gb it is so i copied it to a 4gb card from an 8 and it works fine. No such file locking it to the SD card it came on. So does that fact change the answer?

Odd

lock-n-load wrote:

PS - you are wrong about 1 thing. I can & have moved the 2015.10 map to any SD card i want. It came on an SD card much bigger than the +-3gb it is so i copied it to a 4gb card from an 8 and it works fine. No such file locking it to the SD card it came on. So does that fact change the answer?

I think the assumption was that the maps on the SD card were purchased from Garmin on a SD card. If so, they should not be copy-able to another SD card and still work.

Learning the filenames and sizes of the various files on the SD cards may help identify which of the following options give the results you've found.

It may be:

1) A Garmin map update was performed to the nuvi 255 and the update was installed through the SD option:

https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?...

In this case, the files can be moved to another SD card and still used in your nuvi 255 (but the SD card will not show the map on any other Garmin GPS since the unlock code is specific for your device only). This choice is unlikely since the update process should have removed the older map in nuvi storage unless the update was done through the "clone method."

2) The newer North America and European maps are not Garmin maps but some Garmin-compatible open-source map.

3) The maps on SD cards, if they appear as Garmin maps and if they both work on multiple devices and work after being moved to a different SD card, may well be pirated Garmin maps and should not be discussed on this web site.

Ok, I see. I suspect,

Ok, I see. I suspect, looking at the setup I bought used, and your explanation, that these maps were not bought from Garmin direct. I just bought the unit off the web for a European trip with that being the #1 goal. I have no real need for this in the USA given the GPS in my car or my phone so.. I was just seeing if I could simplify the system I bought used. I mean heck, the 255w is what, 5 years old. We just wanted something to take to Europe to save the huge cost of a rental car GPS and it turns out, this one came with all of this stuff so I jumped on it. Plus, I am totally new to a Garmin GPS and or these little old school portables GPS, so I have/had no idea how any of this works with maps and updating and such. Now i have a clearer picture. Thanks!

BTW.. both SD cards just have the files /Garmin/gmapsupp.img on them. Nothing more.

Whereas the 255w has /Garmin/ and then maybe 27 different folders and files, one of which is name gmapsupp.img but is tiny in file size while gmapprom.img is much bigger.

You

lock-n-load wrote:

Yes I have put the SD card with the newer 2015 map in & selected it - and unselected the 2012 map - so it worked that way. BUT i notice every time I restart the device with the newer 2015 map inserted the gps rechecks the 2012 map oddly so i have to keep unchecking it which is annoying & easy to forget to do & then you have 2 conflicting maps checked. This does not happen when Europe is installed through restarts, 2012 stays unchecked.

You could attach the 255 to your computer and find the file on the Nuvi called gmapprom.img. That is the main map file which should be the NA 2012 map file. If you rename that file to something like gmapprom.NA and leave your SD card in the device, the North American maps should not be seem and the maps on the SD card should be used on boot up.

If there is a gmapsupp.img on the Nuvi you probably should also rename it to gmapsupp.NA so that there is no confussion on boot up as to which map file should be used.

--
Nuvi 350, 760, 1695LM, 3790LMT, 2460LMT, 3597LMTHD, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, DriveSmart 61, Garmin Drive 52, Garmin Backup Camera 40 and TomTom XXL540s.

Okay now there is a good

Okay now there is a good suggestion for a workaround to some degree. I do see that gmapprom.img file - and it is the largest on the 255w of 1.5gb. And gmapsupp.img as well at a small 29.1mb.

Thanks for that. It is still not the ideal goal, as it means one could not have the Europe SD card in AND have the newest 2015 map as well and it still means the 255w has the old map forever in it's memory doing nothing and getting no use. This "solution" means one or the other. But at least, it would mean the gps would stop seeing the 2012 map and stop loading it and rechecking it at each restart.

So thanks for the idea.

FIrst

First of all take a full backup of the Nuvi before attempting any of this stuff as if something fails your going to end up with a newly purchased brick.

Now that you have a backup try this:

- MOVE the original gmapprom.img file off of the Nuvi to a folder on your computer.

- MOVE the orginal gmapsupp.img file off of the Nuvi to a folder on your computer.

- Copy the gmapsupp.img file from one of your SD cards to the Nuvi.

- Place the other SD card in the SD slot on Nuvi

In theory, the older Nuvi's should be able to read a gmapsupp file on the device and on the SD card at the same time so if you have the gmapsupp file for the NA maps on the device and the file holding the Europe maps on the SD card then you should be able to pick and choice between which one you want to use and you shouldn't need to make a selection each time you boot the Nuvi.

I suggested putting the NA maps on the Nuvi and the Europe maps being left on the SD card but you can do it the other way around and it shouldn't matter. Either way it will either work or it won't.

--
Nuvi 350, 760, 1695LM, 3790LMT, 2460LMT, 3597LMTHD, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, DriveSmart 61, Garmin Drive 52, Garmin Backup Camera 40 and TomTom XXL540s.

Internal memory sizes??

I thought the 255 had only 2 G internal. If so, the 2015.1 map is too big for the nuvi.

What are the names of the various .img files and what are their respective sizes?

PLEASE DO A BACKUP OF ALL DEVICES AND CARDS before playing around. We run into far too many people who regret not doing backups.

see
Backing Up Your GPS (Garmin) {G}
Backup Using ISO File {G}

I will try and report back

t923347 wrote:

First of all take a full backup of the Nuvi before attempting any of this stuff as if something fails your going to end up with a newly purchased brick.

Now that you have a backup try this:

- MOVE the original gmapprom.img file off of the Nuvi to a folder on your computer.

- MOVE the orginal gmapsupp.img file off of the Nuvi to a folder on your computer.

- Copy the gmapsupp.img file from one of your SD cards to the Nuvi.

- Place the other SD card in the SD slot on Nuvi

In theory, the older Nuvi's should be able to read a gmapsupp file on the device and on the SD card at the same time so if you have the gmapsupp file for the NA maps on the device and the file holding the Europe maps on the SD card then you should be able to pick and choice between which one you want to use and you shouldn't need to make a selection each time you boot the Nuvi.

I suggested putting the NA maps on the Nuvi and the Europe maps being left on the SD card but you can do it the other way around and it shouldn't matter. Either way it will either work or it won't.

I plan to leave the Europe map on the SD card for sure.

My goal would be to do as suggested and just move over the new 2015 gmapsupp.img file and kill off the old 2012 one.

I had already backed up the 255w the day I got it. And then, I went into it and deleted all kinds of not needed language files. But what threw me was that on the 255w the gmapsupp.img file is so small - only 29.1mb - and yet the gmapprom.img file is big at 1.5gb so it caught me off guard given the 2015 gmapsupp.img is 2.33gb and there is no gmapprom.img.

And you know, that raises a new point I had not considered as I type this out... If the 2015 gmapsupp.img is 2.33gb and the older gmapsupp.img is 29.1mb + the gmapprom.img at 1.5gb + only 315mb of free space.. I might not even be able to load up the 2.33gb 2015 map. huh? Eek, I didn't consider that. sad

And now if that is the case.. how could one have ever downloaded the official Garmin map and expected it to actually fit on the GPS?

yep, mem is an issue

jgermann wrote:

I thought the 255 had only 2 G internal. If so, the 2015.1 map is too big for the nuvi.

What are the names of the various .img files and what are their respective sizes?

PLEASE DO A BACKUP OF ALL DEVICES AND CARDS before playing around. We run into far too many people who regret not doing backups.

see
Backing Up Your GPS (Garmin) {G}
Backup Using ISO File {G}

Funny you say that as while I was typing my response to the last post, it dawned on me this whole internal memory issue. And, you happened to post it at the same time.

I have already backed it up on day 1 before touching anything.

But you are right.. I don't think there is enough room. I have 315mb free + the 1.5gb gmapprom.img + the 29.1mb gmapsupp.img file will not add up to 2.33gb needed for the 2015.10 map.

Agreed? Darn.. that means the 255w is forever stuck with worthless 2012.20 on it and this unit is only useful to me when using SD cards.

maybe this would work

Note: On my 255W the map files are in sets of three, such as:

gmapsupp.img
gmapsupp.sum
gmapsupp.unl

So when maps are moved or copied, I think all three files in each map set should be included.

After the old 2012 set was moved to the computer I would rename the set on one SD card to gmapprom.xxx and then copy the gmapsupp set from the other SD card to the same card.

Edit: The .sum file is a checksum and is not needed to use the map.

Well, if you would have purchased the maps from Garmin in a DL

>>And now if that is the case.. how could one have
>>ever downloaded the official Garmin map and expected
>> it to actually fit on the GPS?

Well, unfortunately it sounds like you purchased purloined maps loaded on an old GPS, so there's not much you can do.

If you purchased a legitimate download from Garmin, as part of the map download, you would be presented with some options to load various parts of the new 2015.1 maps on the GPS and the remainder on an SD card ... or even download and install only a portion of the maps, say the lower 49 or Canada and the border towns, etc.

You aren't the first person to purchase illegal maps from eBay auctions, and you won't be the last ... but unfortunately, there is not much you can do at this point except run Europe and NA on separate SD cards.

Unless you want to purchase a real download from Garmin.

Have you registered the GPS with Garmin? You might find out that the GPS has been registered and reported as lost or even stolen.

Newer Garmins have a whole bunch more internal memory ... primarily because of Junction Views which are photo-realistic pix of actual turns off US, Canadian, and Europe major roads.

--
Garmin 205, 260W, 1450LMT, 2460LMT, HEREwego for iPhone ... all still mapping strong.

Thanks guys

yes, it was an eBay deal. Yes, I did reg it and no issues. Oh well.. Europe functionality is the most critical and whole purpose of the purchase and so I guess that will still work.

Thanks so much for the time and info guys!