[Squeeky]

Garmin's user manual specifies to use between 4 - 32 GB size cards formatted for FAT32. Any rebels out there tried to use a larger memory card? Wondering if it is a software/hardware limitation or just a user manual update needed. Do you find you need more than 32 GB?

 

[Breezly]

Lots of people have used larger sd card but I always advise against it. I have seen many instances where someone is having problems with their device, seemingly unrelated to the SD card, find that the problems suddenly go away when they remove the SD card.

I'm curious why the need for a larger card. The maps all fit in internal memory and from my experience, other data doesn't take up that much memory on the card.

 

[OldFatGuy]

I use a Zumo 396 and it says the same thing... However, You can go larger. It just has to be formatted FAT and not NTFS or EXFAT.

You can find utilities to format it FAT. I used a free utility I found somewhere online called "AOMEI Partition Assistant".

Hope this helps!

**Downloading any software free or otherwise from the internet inherently has risks - please only download from reputable sites and make sure you have good up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware protection.

 

[NascarGuy]

Was researching this today actually. The 590LM has a max of 32GB where the 595LM has a max of 64GB. Both must be formatted to FAT32.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Brian_Fenner]

I put a 128GB card in my Zumo 396.......seems to work fine.

To answer a previous question as to why? Because I have close to 50GB of MP3 music I load up for use with the media player.

 

[Breezly]

I put a 128GB card in my Zumo 396.......seems to work fine.

To answer a previous question as to why? Because I have close to 50GB of MP3 music I load up for use with the media player.

You can load as many mp3s on the card as you want but the 595 will only recognize 1000.

 

[Brian_Fenner]

You can load as many mp3s on the card as you want but the 595 will only recognize 1000.

My Zumo 396 recognizes 4160 MP3's on the SD card.......only about 1/2 of my full collection, but it will do fine for now.

 

[Squeeky]

I purchased a 32GB card and inserted it into a laptop with intentions to format it. I looked under properties, and it listed it as formatted FAT32 (possibly pre-formatted?

Anything special needed (a specific folder, etc) or just drag and drop some mp3 files into the main folder of the microSD card?

 

[carolinarider10]

Some additional information here.

https://www.zumouserforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=328

 

[OldFatGuy]

I purchased a 32GB card and inserted it into a laptop with intentions to format it. I looked under properties, and it listed it as formatted FAT32 (possibly pre-formatted?

Anything special needed (a specific folder, etc) or just drag and drop some mp3 files into the main folder of the microSD card?

Yes, 32GB you should be good to go and can reformat on your windows laptop at any time without any additional software. It's breaking the 32GB barrier that you'll need to do something different.

I can't recall, but seems like I thought I had to put it in a folder named GARMIN. If no one else chimes in, I'll go get my GPS and pull the card and look and see. Not sure if what I did was "required" but I found it somewhere and it works.

_

 

[OldFatGuy]

Correction - My music is in a folder named MP3

 

[RedBag]

Its called "FAT32" to identify the maximum capacity of the file system (268,173,300), i.e., "File Allocation Table 32 bit" You may be able to play tricks to get more but it won't reliably perform over the long haul.



(For the purists, check out the Wiki at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table to learn about a Tebibyte)


73

 

[Squeeky]

I placed a few mp3 files into the microSD main directory. I didn't format it. There was also a Garmin directory already on the memory card main directory. I didn't use the Garmin folder. I presume that the insertion of the blank card into the GPS caused an automatic Garmin folder creation on the card, or it was done while attached to a laptop.

When the Zumo was disconnected from the laptop, the files show up under the media player on the Zumo screen, divided by artist and album. When I connect the Zumo harness to the bike via bluetooth through the aux input, I'll see if the mp3 files play through wired J&M headsets or the external speakers.

Thanks for the help so far, and the link to the Zumo user forum.

 

[OldFatGuy]

You may be able to play tricks to get more but it won't reliably perform over the long haul.

I haven't had any issues with any cards in several different personal devices. We used to do this in a lot of data collection devices before the devices themselves started supporting larger capacity cards. These devices collected data 24x7 for over 2 years. Some locations collected more data than others, so some needed larger capacities. Both 32gb and 64gb cards would have failures, but the larger capacities actually had a lower failure rate. YMMV but my experience has been that it does perform reliably.