TomTom 950 Live will not recognise memory card [resolved]

[Stevieb]

Hi
I am hoping someone can help me with a frustrating problem.
I have just purchased a new 950 live. I have followed the advice on here and done the following
1. Immediately backed it up to my PC (before I did anything else) directly and using TomTom home
2. Powered it down
3. Inserted a brand new Transcend 8gb Micro SDHC card (class 6)
4. Plugged it back into the PC, switched it on and connected it to the pc
5. At select device chose the memory card
6. Selected restore
However it does not restore to the memory card - it restores to the internal memory. I have tried several variants of the above and still it will not restore to the memory card. I have formatted the memory card (when it arrived it was FAT32 and the format was also FAT32) and still the same.
Previous to this 950 I had another new one and exactly the same thing happened. I got a repalcement from Amazon because of this issue but this current 950 is doing exactly the same.
Obviously I cannot take up my map update offer until I get this problem solved.
Could I have another faulty device, a faulty memory card (i can read and write files to it through the pc) or is it just a faulty me and someone here is going to make me go AHA!!
Hoping you can help

 

[canderson]

Hi
6. Selected restore
However it does not restore to the memory card - it restores to the internal memory.

Based upon what you're saying about backup/restore, I'm guessing that you are trying to use Home to do this. It doesn't always correctly respond to demands for use of the uSD card.

We recommend this: Use your computer's OS to back up ALL of the contents of your TomTom. See some instructions here: https://www.tomtomforums.com/genera...4-how-backup-contents-your-unit-computer.html

After doing that, use your PC to then copy all of the stuff you just copied to your PC back to your uSD card. Don't try to use Home to do this.

 

[canderson]

FWIW - all you really need on the uSD card is/are your map folder/folders. Once you have ALL backed up to your PC per the previous message, you can copy that folder from your TomTom to the uSD card, delete it from your TomTom, and Home will begin to find it there for updates. What maps were installed on your unit to begin with?

 

[Stevieb]

Hi there
thanks for that quick reply.
I have all of europe and north America. I live in Scotland and the usa maps are for my holiday

So just to be clear
back up all to pc as per the linked instructions
Copy it all across to SD card using the pc
Delete the info from the units internal memory and that should be it?

 

[canderson]

Hi there
thanks for that quick reply.
I have all of europe and north America. I live in Scotland and the usa maps are for my holiday

So just to be clear
back up all to pc as per the linked instructions
Copy it all across to SD card using the pc
Delete the info from the units internal memory and that should be it?

Yes and no. This will certainly work. That said, there is really no reason that the operating software needs to be on the uSD card. The firmware can all be left on the unit and only the maps stored on the uSD card. There are many of us that run that way for one reason or another.

You should be able to readily identify the map folders on your unit. I don't know what they publish to you over there, but it would not surprise me to find North_America_2GB and Western_and_Central_Europe_2GB or something along those lines. The latter one will likely have a somewhat different name where you are. It's very important for a variety of reasons that you keep good PC backups of your maps at all times. The rest of the stuff we can always recover if you have trouble some day.

But yes, you have the essence of the thing. Back up all to the PC - and start by just moving only the two large map folders over to your uSD card. There's really no reason to move any of the other items at this time.

 

[Andy_P]

The way I run my Go950 is this:

1. All operating software, voices etc left on internal memory,
2. US map folder moved to SD card (just my cutting and pasting the folder).
3. Europe map left on internal memory.

That leaves plenty of space on the internal memory to update the FULL Europe map without having to muck around with the partial 'zoned' versions.

All the later models can use the internal memory and the SD card simultaneously in this way.

I know other people who have done it the other way round and moved the Europe folder on to the card instead.

You CAN move all the operating system to the card as well, but there's no real reason to do that unless your internal memory has died (I'm running my old Go720 like that)
Having said that, some people reckon their machines run SLIGHTLY faster if they run everything off an SD card. Personally I've never noticed much difference when I've tried it.

If you want to backup OR "Restore" anything, just copy and paste using Windows Explorer. Don't bother trying to get Home to do it, it will all end in tears.....:rant:

 

[Stevieb]

I am now getting the Aha moment!! Thank you very much Canderson and Andy P - if there was a beer icon on here I would give you a crate

Can I ask one more thing - I am going to follow exactly what you have said. Once I have done this I will be ready to update my device for the first time. I take it I DO use home for this - if so what process do I follow - or you recommend I follow?

 

[Andy_P]

Yes, you usually *do* need Home to do software updates and to add new maps.
(in fact you can also install software updates manually if you REALLY want to, but I'd only suggest that if you have a problem).


USING HOME:

Most "small" updates are done by clicking on the "Update my Go" section (bottom left).

Adding new stuff (such as voices or traffic services) is done from the "Add Voices etc" section (top middle).

Buying maps is done from "Add maps" (top left)
(but if you have a "Latest Map Guarantee", you do that from the "Tools" menu at the top, NOT from "Add maps"!)

Finally, buried on page 2 is "Manage my device", which can be useful sometimes to see what is on the device and what is stored on your computer.
But as we say, a lot of the actual moving of stuff from one place to another can be more easily done with normal "copy and paste".

--------------------

The main thing to remember is that Home is not the "sharpest knife in the software drawer", so it will still do the occasional stupid thing.
The most common ones I see are:
1. that it always installs the European speed camera files to EVERY map it can find, even one of the US, and
2. it sometimes refuses to install a map to an SD card even if you've told it on startup that is where you want it to go.

#1. is not a problem at all really, and for #2 there are several ways round it (like my method above of always moving the map you want to update onto the internal memory first, or by temporarily copying the software to the card too and then removing it from the TomTom and using a card reader to update (Home is clever (or stupid!) enough to thing an SD card in a card reader is your whole TomTom).

Another thing to put up with is that (on my old PC anyway) while Home is "thinking" it often 'maxxes out' the CPU on my computer so the Home screen looks blank in the middle and everything looks like it has crashed for a while. Patience is a virtue where Home is concerned!

Hope that little essay helps! (I got a bit carried away...)

 

[Stevieb]

Brilliant Andy P - Point 2 you mention is probably the issue I had and could not work out how to get round. (the device did not seem to recognise the memory card when I restored through home)
However thanks to both your advice I can now see what needs to be done. So I will be doing it this weekend and will post back as to how it went. I'm verey confident your advice has helped me out big time
Thank you again

 

[Stevieb]

Solved

Hi
Well I took your advice and Hey Presto it worked!! What I did was follow your instructions exactly. In the end I removed the USA map from the internal memory (nothing else) and went for the map update and the other updates and it worked perfectly. I have also done all the backing up as well.
Drove to work this morning and all good - picked up the new roundabout at work so the maps have updated perfectly.
Only trouble is the live services are not working now - the little circle just goes round and round and it wont connect to the Tom Tom server it says - so i will have a hunt on here to find an answer to that.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH

 

[canderson]

In the end I removed the USA map folder from the internal memory (nothing else) and went for the map update and the other updates and it worked perfectly.

Did you go ahead and copy the North American map to your uSD card? With 8GB, you have plenty of room for both that and Europe now.

Only trouble is the live services are not working now - the little circle just goes round and round and it wont connect to the Tom Tom server it says - so i will have a hunt on here to find an answer to that.

Keep us posted on that and let us know if the problem is just temporary or persists. Would also suggest you take a quick look at the Status & Information / Version Information / Network to see what appears there. Is there data after MCC/MNC and what does it say under "Status"?

 

[Stevieb]

Hi
Yes I put the North America map on the SD card.

The live services are working fine - what had happened was that I had to log into them on the sat nav itself on the sign in page for live services. Once I did this they worked fine and since then (fingers crossed) I have had no problems whatsoever

Thanks to you both for your help