Secure Digital (SD) and Garmin maps.

[firewalker]

I have some nautical maps for Garmin's G.P.S. system. The maps are shipped inside a SD card. The maps can be copied to another SD card using a card reader. As normally the G.P.S. says that the new card isn't acceptable. Is there any way to "debug" it?

Can a SD card be "broken"? Does anyone know something?

Thanks you.

[Parmin]

the G.P.S. says that the new card isn't acceptable. Is there any way to "debug" it?

I also would like to learn this.. please post here if you find answers.

Can a SD card be "broken"?

in a word, YES.
I seen many SD cards that became "broken".
Most of the time the card simply loose its indexing system, usually happens when the card is removed from a reader/writer before it finish the operation, thus the files are no longer accessible.
Next "broken" type is by Static electricity.. almost any micro electronics are prone to this.
and last I seen so far is physical damages to the card or its contacts.

There is also problem when the little tab on the side were broken or gone missing - the card is then "locked" and supposedly cannot be written into anymore..

[alspa]

firewalker,

you need to unlock your maps. when you copy the maps from one sd card to another the memory card serial number changes. there is a text file called <mapname>.unl (normally gmapsupp.unl) which holds the unlock code.

You use a keygen to enter your sd card serial number (Card ID in your program Settings->About) and you obtain the key, put that in this file which is then placed in the Garmin directly on you rSD card.

Look here for more info and the keygen and other good info

http://www.leoidea.com/2008/04/22/jmkg-15-final/

Cheers,
Alspa