Garmin Nuvi 250 Formatted!

Graham_G · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 08, 2016 Posts: 8

Self inflicted: I realised the maps were out of date after an 'incident' over the weekend, connected the 250 up to Garmin Express which recognised it - it is an LTM unit - but told me the currently available map would not fit on the internal storage and I should fit a card. I found a suitable card, put in in the reader in the PC and proceeded to quick-format it... only to realise seconds later that I had accidentally formatted the Nuvi. Not my finest hour.

I was careful not to create anything 'new' on the Nuvi drive and tried using Recuva to find and extract the delected files to another USB drive (so not writing anything back to the Nuvi at this stage).

While it found a lot of files,
-I don't know if any or all of them are intact
-I don't know the first 'missing' letters of many of the file names.
-The directory structure was not properly recovered so what files I do have are not necessarily in the right places.

To that end, it would be great if someone who still has one of these could post photos of the files / filenames in the root of the unit and also in any subfolders so I can try to reconstruct the contents of mine just enough so that Garmin express can 'see' it with its original unique ID. Among the files recovered are a prodkey.bin file and a prodkeyEU.bin file but I don't know if these provide the unit with its unique ID / licence to use downloaded maps.

If there were hidden folders, I don't know what they were called or what went in them.

dales · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2025 10:52 pm Post subject:

GarminDevice.xml, in the nuvi > Garmin folder, is the file which uniquely identifies your device.
But I don't think it's as simple as replacing the filing system.
Apparently you need to reload the firmware, which might mean getting hold of the relevant .exe or .gcd files eg from https://web.archive.org/web/20141129021258/http://gawisp.com/perry/nuvi/ (but note choosing the wrong one can be fatal). You might choose eg the 250W 260.exe or the 250 290.exe if appropriate. (It's better to choose your oldest relevant version, which can be updated later with Express).
See this https://www.justanswer.com/gps/8t4pu-accidentally-formatted-garmin-250w-won-t-recognise.html for some more info.
You may also need to google for Kunix's Cure.
You'll need some perseverance ! Good luck.
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nuvi 2599LMT-D, oregon 700, basecamp, memory-map.

PhilHornby · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2025 12:33 am Post subject: Re: Garmin Nuvi 250 Formatted!

AllanKnowles · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 06, 2005 Posts: 43

Doesn't Express do some form of backup to the User/Documents folder when you do an update?

Also check the Garmin appdata for the licence

It is a long time since I used the actual device but use the maps on my PC.

Kremmen · Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2025 7:40 am Post subject:

Yes, there is a Garmin backup each time

Can't remember where and I deleted mine when I ditched my Garmins

The CSV Converter does point to it though from one of the menu items
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Lets be careful out there !

AllanKnowles · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 06, 2005 Posts: 43

Assuming you are using Windows, check user/your name/documents/My Garmin.

Also user/you name/appdata/local and /roaming

seems to have licence information

Graham_G · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 08, 2016 Posts: 8

Wow, some really useful info there - special thanks to PhilHornby for taking the time to post a detailed file structure for the 250 - many of the files 'recovered' by recuva are recognisable in that list with the correct first letter restored, of course, also useful to know that it is the .xml file which gives the unit its specific identity. I will also check the suggested Windows locations for further info.

Another track I went down was to look for a replacement unit which, like mine, had the licence for lifetime map updates but I have been informed from one quarter that lifetime map updates for this model are finally coming to an end this year - so if that's true, even if I can fix mine as an interesting technical exercise - and I will certainly try - it looks as though it would have been coming near to the end of its useful life anyway with no further map updates from this year.

I can get by with the maps being a bit out of date but just this weekend gone I was down in the Huntingdon / Cambridge area and the 250 was completely flummoxed by all the recent road changes around the A14 in that area - hence the fatal attempt to update it.

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