Help - Lost Favourites - Can I get them back ?

[Nostromo]

Ive had a TomTom Go 530 for a couple of years or so and have never bought a new map for it.
Today I thought it was about time to get up to date, so Ive just purchased, downloaded and installed a new UK & Ireland map and also the speed camera refresh.

CATASTROPHY ! ! ! . . . . . . all my favorites have disappeared ! ! ! . . . I would never have upgraded the map if I'd known that was going to happen. I can get by with a slightly out of date map . . . but the whole reason I bought the Tom-Tom was for the Favorites feature and I absolutely cannot do without the favorites Ive stored.

Is there any way I can get them back ?

Im not very IT literate so I don't know how to, and haven't, done any backups of anything before I down loaded these map and speed camera upgrades. If I had known this was going to happen I would never have got the new maps . . . . . why dont the instructions warn you that this will happen and tell you what to do to save all your favorites ?

What a terrible design flaw in an otherwise useful device ?

Any advice much appreciated ?

 

[dhn]

IF you had made a backup of your unit's contents (Explorer, not Home) prior to the map update, especially the backing up of your previous map, it would have been reasonably easy to retrieve all the favourites, etc.

You see, all this data is kept in the mapsettings.cfg file in the specific map folder. You could have copied the file (using Explorer) from your backed up map folder to the new map folder on your unit.

I'm afraid without the backup, you'll have to redo all the favourites again. And your speed camera warnings...

Because of the problem with potential loss of Favourites with map upgrades, many users create a custom .0v2 poi file for favourites and just copy them from map to map.

Here's how: (courtesy of supermod Mikealder)
Pocket GPS World - SatNavs | GPS | Speed Cameras Forums-viewtopic-Converting "MapSettings.cfg" file

 

[Nostromo]

Oh dear . . . . . .

Hi DHN,

Thanks for that advice. Trouble is I'm nowhere near high enough up the IT food chain to be able to do any of that sort of thing ? . . . and like you said I've now just realized all my speed camera settings are all gone to pot as well ! ! !

I guess I've learned a lesson here the hard way ! . . I'll have to struggle to sort out the speed canera stuff and will probably never get it back like it was . . . and in future no more map upgrades ! I'll make do with the map Ive got ! . . . I will never ever buy another TomTom map upgrade until the TomTom software automatically saves your favorites !

It seems like a no brainer to me . . . . who on earth would go to the trouble of saving locations in the favorites folder in the first place if they didn't want them saved long term ? . . . I really wish I'd stuck with my out of date map now ?

All the best from the UK.

 

[dhn]

Yes, it's a hard lesson learned..........

Newer models with updated maps and Navcore 9x applications apparently are getting the favourites saved when upgrading the map. At least some are reporting that......

But the Go models (x30, etc.) don't and won't get those Navcore 9x application updates.

However, if you DO make a backup from now on or do make a custom poi file as shown in the link, you won't have the aggrevation if and when you do a further map update.

 

[Nostromo]

Have just done a search on my computer (using the magnifying glass button) for instances of the file "mapsettings.cfg" and three files came up, all with the same name, though they were not all in the same location. I right clicked on them for properties and one of them is dated 16th April so could be a backup ? - though I don't remember doing a back up - but maybe I did do one without realizing it ?

Have read through the instructions in the earlier posting - but its way over my head unfortunately - I'd never be able to do that sort of stuff even if I had a month to do it in ? . . .

If you guys who are good at computers can copy and reinstall your Favourites, then why on earth cant the Tom Tom software do it ? . . . .

If it can be done, then that just makes me even more annoyed with Tom Tom for them not embracing and providing the function within their software ! . . . . . it ought to be the default to save your favorites and deleting them ought to be the option ! ! . . . . NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND !

I am going off of Tom Tom very fast here ! . . . . dont think I'd recommend one to anyone else !

 

[mikealder]

If you want to e-mail me the MapSettings.cfg file I will convert it and send it back in Custom POI file format, it will only take a few seconds - the guide I wrote takes longer to read than to actually convert the file!

Click my username to the left of this post and one of the options is send e-mail, once I have the file I will send it back converted - Mike

 

[Nostromo]

Thanks so much for your kind offer.
Unfortunately the forum system wont allow me to send emails.
I keep getting a message something about being a newbe and having insufficient posts to be allowed access to the email function.
Thanks anyway.

 

[Nostromo]

Mike,
I have emailed.
Thanks,

 

[mikealder]

Nothing received as yet?? - Try sending it again - Mike

 

[bongbong]

One bitten twice shy

Just been caught out by the favouties problem.

Am sitting here shaking head at the ineptitude of Tomtom HOME software.
Found that the nearest I could get back to was the favorites from 14 months ago when I last updated maps.

Am still sitting here shaking head at the ineptitude of Tomtom HOME software.

Where did it all go wrong TomTom? I paid ~?30 for a year's map updates but funnily my existing favourites didn't need updating.
Why doesn't the wondeful HOME software make a copy of the user info before making the updates? Why does it over-write the user files? Madness ...

Yes, I'm still sitting here shaking head at the ineptitude of Tomtom HOME software ...

 

[dhn]

On the other hand, an Explorer backup of your unit's contents with all the revised favourites more recently that over a year ago would have..............

Never mind.

 

[bongbong]

Mmm...

Thanks, I guess my problem is I have an aversion to spending time backing up my tomtom as for me it's a navigation device that lives in the car and not a lot more.

I think you're trying to defend some poorly coded Home software by saying if I have a backup of all of the files it doesn't matter that the software has a unexpected issues as I can fix the outcome by restoring the files from the backup.

In a world of free software you might have a point but in this instance I paid for the device, software, and update from the same company and so I have a reasonable expectation that a map update does not cause collateral damage to the contents of the device. Hence my disappointment when it does.

It seems I'll have to manage TomTom's software updates in the future. Looks like I'll have to pay and wag my own tail after all.

 

[mikealder]

Before you start adding Favourites to the unit take a look at the link in the second post in this thread it will take you to a write up on how to use Custom POI files instead of Favourites.

If you use a Custom POI file the useless TomTom Home software will actually keep the file and all the locations contained in it. In addition the custom POI method is transferable to ANY TomTom product should you ever decide to upgrade the unit.

As for anyone defending the TomTom Home software, its not something you find many (if any) of moderators on this forum doing, we have all fallen foul of what it can and cannot do at some stage which is why I often refer to it as useless, the higher the version number of Home the worse the product:

Home 1,x Basic but kind of worked.
Home 2,x Best described as Crap.
Home 3,x The Auto censor won't let me fill this in but trust me its worse than the previous version

- Mike

 

[dhn]

I think you're trying to defend some poorly coded Home software by saying if I have a backup of all of the files it doesn't matter that the software has a unexpected issues as I can fix the outcome by restoring the files from the backup.

To follow up what Mike has said.

I'm the LAST person here to defend anything involving TomTom hardware or software, whether it be an application or the Home software.

It's precisely because of the problems that some people encounter that we DO highly recommend Explorer backups.

You can't be bothered? Fine, it's your unit.

 

[canderson]

You're playing with a miniature computer and don't treat it like one -- well, there's a lot of folks that don't back up anything from their PC, either.

It's not like it's just TomTom Home, either. I back up my Garmin handhelds and make sure I've got the current load before doing any firmware upgrades to those units as well. Have had enough excitement with some problems they shipped in release firmware earlier this year.

When a manufacturer creates a sufficiently open architecture to allow you to manually back up your stuff, you use it. It's a shame the TT 1000/2000 series is going the wrong way on this. They're creating a situation there where their distributions had better darned well be bulletproof, 'cause we won't be able to help you with those the way we could have helped you with this one.