Saturday, August 24, 2013

How to fix the problem of Not Enough Space to Load map files on Garmin Nuvi's.

If you are like me, you may have had the following happen:
1.  You updated your Garmin using Garmin Express
2.  After downloading the maps, the program reported that it could not install them on your device because there is not enough room. 
3.  The program asked you to put in an SD card to load the maps on. 

As it turns out, there are two great ways around this.   If your Garmin has 3 GB or greater of storage room, you should be able to fit all the maps on your device. 


Method 1: Delete the old maps off your device, and then have Garmin Express load the maps on the device.  Make sure you first have Express backup your device, so you don't have to redownload them if it doesn't work.  Delete the following files: gmapprom.gma and gmapprom.img and gmaprom.unl.  If you have updated the maps once before, you may also have the same files, but with the name gmapsup1 for a name. 

Method 2:  Clone your Garmin.  This is quite easy.  Just insert an SD card into your computer and copy the folder Garmin and the file inside it GarminDevice.xml onto the card.  Then disconnect your Garmin from the computer and start Garmin Express.  It will update the SD card with the new maps.  When it is done, then copy the files from the SD card onto the Garmin, overwriting the old ones.

I think you only need the gmapprom set of files.  I think the problem is that the Garmin Express doesn't overwrite the old map set, it only copies the new ones onto the device and renames them.  Maybe its their way of fooling people into buying more SD cards?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks! That advice was enough to get me up and running again (after finally realizing that the Garmin Express program wasn't even working properly).

Les

Anonymous said...

Thanks!!! After contacting garmin support, I looked elsewhere and found this. THIS was the information I needed to get the map update i wanted installed on my nuvi 200. THANKS.

Unknown said...

WHY do GPS manufacturers never cover this in their manuals??? Updating my Tom Tom was a pain in the butt because of this problem. I was hoping my new Garmin wouldn't have the same issue. Kind of a big deal. You'd think it would be worth mentioning in a user manual or something.

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