Backing up favorites... (Garmin Nuvi)

[Blue Flame]

Backing up favorites...

1) On your computer, Make a folder named, "backup fav Garmin" (or whatever you want).
2) Connect nuvi to usb.
3) Browse to the drive labeled Garmin,
4) Then file folder name Garmin,
5) Then folder named "GPX,"
6) Copy the file named "current.gpx" to your computer (idem# 1).
In my case, E:\Garmin\GPX
current.gpx
7) Rename the file to, current1.gpx (on your computer).

Save this file regularly (make a back-up), as needed…

If you have a current.gpx and a current1.gpx, on the nuvi, the files will be merged with whatever you already have, and will be renamed as, Current.gpx, always save with a new number to differentiate between the saved files (on your computer)...

(If/ when you reload the back-up to the nuvi, copy file current1.gpx back to same location in nuvi. Once you have a current, current1, current2.gpx files, on the nuvi, you should delete the numbered, "current1.gpx," files from the GPS (save them as back-up, on your computer, as described above (you dont need to save them twice, as I am summarizing the process).

Too bad Garmin's updater dos not do this....

[Tim]

I've duplicated this over to the Tips & Tricks forum.

[pikay]

To transfer Favourites from Old Garmin to New Garmin that has no favourite data except General locations like Garmin USA etc etc
(Eg. From Garmin NUVI 610 to Garmin Nuvi 2575R)

1. Plug USB Cable into New GPS and select USB Mode
2. Search for Nand Drive on Garmin New (Eg G. Do not search Card!!!
3. Look into GPX Folder and copy current.gpx into a local harddisk. In case something bad happens)
4. Erase the current.gpx
5. Switch on New Garmin (2575R) and touch favourites
6. Go and erase all the data in the New Garmin. (Now the copy in Nand and in the system is devoid of all favourite locations)
7. Plug in you Old Garmin and copy current.gpx into harddisk folder
8. Rename this current.gpx as temp.gpx
9. Now copy the temp.gpx from harddisk into GPX folder in new garmin
10. Unplug data cable and restart New Garmin
11. All you lod favoutites has been transfered into new Garmin

[sussamb]

[flyyboyy]

[Billw439]

Back them up with BaseCamp. Just plug in the GPS, create a folder under my collection and drag the waypoints to it.

[sussamb]

[popej]

[t923347]

Popej, I'm sure you mean current.gpx and not custom.gpx in the first line of your post but in any event, your absolutely right. You can't just copy the current.gpx file from one unit to another, whether your a Mac or PC user, as the Nuvi will overwrite the copied file the first time you boot the unit back up. You have to copy the current.gpx file off the old GPS, rename it, and copy the renamed file to the new unit. That's the same no matter what computer OS your using.

You can of course use Basecamp or Mapsource to accomplish the transfer but neither piece of software is needed, as a simple copy, rename, copy will get you to the same place.

[sussamb]

Rick, you are of course right, the advantage though of using Basecamp or Mapsource for anyone in this situation is that it gives the chance to easily edit your favourites before transferring them across. Might be useful in some circumstances

[t923347]

Absolutely

Just wanted to point out that adding additional software to perform a straight transfer of Favorites, and other data stored in the current.gpx file, is not required as a simple copy, rename, copy will do.

Have a great 2012.

[popej]

[Jeeps]

funny how this got revived from a thread 3 years ago.

I found Boyds easy enough. Maybe I like the simplistic approach.

http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=17731

Pikay, 3rd post, your number 6 line, I personally would like that one clarified, the way it reads........it sounds as though you'd want a person to delete all the information on a new unit, I think you mean JUST DELETE THE Current.gpx folder.

[Billw439]

One problem is that not everyone trying to do this understands the folder structure of the system, especially win7, and can wind up creating problems eith the GPS. Using Mapsource or BaseCamp isolates it a little bit. Also most will install the program to have the maps on their computer. A great benefit when planning routes and determining they are taking you where you want to go.

[flyyboyy]

After carefully reading this thread I realized that it started out as a thread about backing up the favourites and then morphed a couple of replies down into a "how do you copy favourites from an old Nuvi to a nu Nuvi?"

That is where I jumped in.

Having said all that, copying a GPX file to my Apple for backup is simple, no renaming.

Just click on the device when it mounts on the desktop,
click on Garmin then gpx then drag current.gpx to the desktop. done.

If you want to install the old favourites to a new unit, you simply drag the gpx file from the new unit to the trash and drag the file from the old to the new unit.
Or you can right click on the new unit's GPX and select "Move to Trash" and then right click on the old unit's current.gpx file and select "copy" or command c and then command v in the new unit's gpx folder.

Worked for me.

[popej]

Sorry to repeat again, but your procedure is wrong.

Current.gpx on nuvi is not a real file, this is representation of internal data created by nuvi as an output, for reading by external programs. Replacing or deleting current.gpx doesn't change "favorites" content.

[t923347]

Right again Popej, we are going around in circles here but for the final time (at least for me):

1. You can not just copy the current.gpx file from one Nuvi to another as you have pointed out at least twice now.

2. There is no difference in how you get the favorites off one Nuvi and on to another one whether you have a Windows PC or a MAC, just a slight difference in terms (Recycle Bin vs Trash).

3. If all you want to do is have a copy of your favorites on hand, then it doesn't matter if you have a PC or a MAC it's simply a matter of taking a copy of the current.gpx file from your Nuvi and saving it to your computer.

[flyyboyy]

I am not sure why the confusion. I simply pointed out the way I did it with an Apple computer.

I am now able to see all my favourites on my Nuvi 1390lmt and have used them for navigation.

Why and how it works I do not know, but it did.

What is the specific problem that you see with doing what I did, bearing in mind that it does what it was designed to do for me, navigate to all my old favourites?

[t923347]

OK, one final time. If the new unit has an existing current.gpx file on it, you can delete that file as many times as you want but it will be right back on your Nuvi, with the same contents, the next time you boot it up. That's because it gets newly created every time the GPS boots up and the contents are obtained from information stored in the Nuvi's internal memory and not available to the user. DELETING THE FILE DOES NOTHING.

You can copy a current.gpx file from another Nuvi and use the contents of that file on a new/different Nuvi but you must rename that file to something else (temp.gpx for example). If you simply copy the current.gpx file on to the new machine it will get destroyed by the current.gpx file that the Nuvi will automatically create at boot up. If you rename the copied current.gpx file to some other name, like temp.gpx, then the Nuvi will create a new current.gpx file on boot up which will include all of the data already stored in it's internal memory PLUS all the data contained in the renamed gpx file.

Again, it doesn't matter what computer OS your using to do this transfer. The steps are exactly the same on the Apple as they are on any PC. The point is that the problem we have with what you did is that it simply can't work. You may be able to navigate to all your favorites but it can't be from simply taking a current.gpx file from one Nuvi and placing it on another.

The only possibility that I can imagine of a current.gpx file copy from one machine to another working without a rename would be if the new machine had never created a current.gpx file (never been booted) and when it was first booted, found the copied GPX file in the GPX folder and incorporated it's data into the current.gpx file it was creating on first boot.
I have no idea whether that's even possible but since I've never attempted it, who knows. It won't work in any other situation that I can think of.

[flyyboyy]

Gotcha!

I'll try to paraphrase what you said...

You are saying that deleting the current.gpx file on the new unit is useless because the unit will just recreate the old one on startup, overwriting the new data with old and therefore the transfer is not successful unless you change the name of the current.gpx file to some other name when you transfer it in, in which case the unit will grab the new info and incorporate it with the old.

What I am saying is that my experience is not the same as yours. Apparently it has something to do with my using an Apple computer.

The only reason I deleted the current.gpx file from my 1390 was that pikay had suggested doing so in his post instruction #4.

If I simply drag the current.gpx file from the 660 into the folder - GPX/current.gpx and drop it, I get a dialog box which says
"A newer item named “current.gpx” already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the older one you’re moving?" to which I select "Replace".

After I did this I was able to navigate etc with the favourites from old faithful 660, one of my prized and most incredibly useful gizmos.

Maybe the GPS fairy dinged my unit. Go to the Apple Store and try it on one of the machines.

This is why I used to avoid my IBM PC laptop from work and use my Apple as much as possible. You are forced to waste time becoming a technician. It's like owning a wooden boat or an abacus.

My value in this thread has been ;
in finding out which file contains the favourites,
realizing that erasing the gpx file is not the end of the world as it is stored in there... somewhere...... and
in helping a fellow or feline Apple user.

[t923347]

I give up.