Does the Go 720 read SDHC cards?

Robin2 · Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:52 pm Post subject: Does the Go 720 read SDHC cards?

A little while ago I bought a refurbished Go 720, and bought a 4GB SDHC card. I have been installing all my safety camera database updates onto the card, on the assumption that the card took preference over the software in the device itself.
In preparation for a holiday in France, I downloaded the European database, and was puzzled when I could not see the POIs to set up the warnings, even though the files were clearly visible in the map folder on my card. Eventually I sussed that my 720 was not seeing the card, so when I put the European cameras onto the device itself I was able to configure the POIs without problem.
My question is therefore..is it normal for a 720 not to be able to read a SDHC card, or is my refurb unit faulty?
Robin
_________________
TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

AndyVaughan · Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 6:59 pm Post subject:

It can read SDHC cards, upto 16Gb has been tried and tested.

What Navcore version are you running as the earlier ones were a bit flakey, but Navcore 8 should be fine.

Did you have your maps on your SD Card? If so, did you remove them from the internal memory as well?

All camera files need to be in the map folder of the map you are using - it is easy to select the map on the internal mem and not the map on the card if all you did was copy it across.

To test it make a full backup using Windows Explorer (see FAQs) of your internal memory. Now copy the map folder (Western Europe) to the card and then delete the map from the internal memory. If you can see the map fine then it is reading your card OK.

Robin2 · Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:38 pm Post subject:

Thanks Andy. I had installed the safety camera database to the internal memory at the beginning of May, and copied the contents of the internal memory to the SDHC card. Subsequent safety camera updates were made to the SDHC card, which I assumed took preference over the internal memory.
All safety camera downloads went into the map folder.
I tested it in more or less the way you suggested. I downloaded the European database into the map folder on the SDHC card, but couldn't see them when I tried to configure the POI warnings. I then copied the European database into the map folder in the internal memory, and they were then visible for me to set up the warnings.
Looks like my device is faulty if it can't see the SDHC card. Can't do anything about it before I go on holiday, but I'll have to send it back to TomTom when I get home.
Thanks
Robin
_________________
TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

Andy_P · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:06 am Post subject:

Hang on.....
Before you decide it's faulty, if I'm reading this right, you copied the map to the card, but did you actually SWITCH the TomTom to look at the version on the card?
This has to be done manually in the Change preferences/Manage maps/Switch map menu.

The 720 can happily read maps from either location, but it has to be told which one you want to use. If you had a Europe map on the internal memory and an America map on the SD card, it would be obvious that you need to switch to one or the other, and how to do it.

But if you copy the SAME map into both places, it can get very confusing knowing which one is being used. It will appear twice in the list of available maps, but will have the same name and if you haven't switched it yourself, you WON'T be using the map version on the card!

You can alleviate a lot of the confusion by altering the name of one of the maps slightly by editing the .pna file in the map folder.

Using Notepad, open the file, and the first line will be something like:
ID=Western_and_Central_Europe.pna

Change that to "ID=Western_and_Central_Europe_SD.pna" or whatever you like, then see if it all becomes clear, and you can switch to the right map.

Sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick, but it looks to me that easy confusion might be your problem and you've been using the "old" map all this time...

AndyVaughan · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:35 pm Post subject:

Exactly what I was getting at when I suggested to copy the map folder to the card and then remove it from the internal memory.

Can HOME see the map on your SDHC card?
Can you browse the SDHC card from within Windows when the TT is connected to the PC?

Might be worth reformatting the card in a SDHC reader - don't format it whilst it is in the TT or in a standard SD reader as it may become unreadable.

Robin2 · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:06 pm Post subject:

Firstly, I didn't think I needed to specify which map - I understood that with the Go series the SD card took preference.
After the last post I tried an experiment. I had another SDHC card, so I copied my latest backup onto that, but deleted a few POIs so that I could easily recognise that version. I put the card into the device and switched it on, the map was the doctored version which I had put onto the SDHC card. So it had chosen the card in preference to the internal memory, as I had always supposed.
Emboldened by this, I copied the contents of the card to the one which previously had not worked. This time it worked fine, again it was recognisable because of the doctored version of my POIs. So the reason it was not seen before must have been due to a corrupt file on the card. All is well now.
Thanks to both of you for your replies
Robin
_________________
TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

Andy_P · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:20 pm Post subject:

Robin2 · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:48 pm Post subject:

Thanks for your help. And the tip about modifying the .pna text using Notepad was useful - I have changed the name of the map on the SD card to Western_Europe_SD and it is now absolutely clear in Manage Maps. Much easier than my solution of doctoring the POIs
Many thanks
Robin
_________________
TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

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