Yes, you should back them up if you want them, and yes it's good policy to at least hard reset whenever you intend changing firmware both before and after if possible. Some firmware version upgrades and downgrades will force a mandatory reset anyway, so it's best to back up your files beforehand in any case. 'Clear NV' is a just little more comprehensive i think, particularly if a device is running erratically.

You were right to copy the basemap, 5.01 is latest and it's not replaced by WU or GE.

NV backup/restore is described here: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. If amos1 had a previous NV backup of region 41, his 1490 would have been working fully now and not partly crippled thru the loss of registration and unlock codes [that's probably what confused you earlier in this thread, all the stuff we were trying because he couldn't access Mass Storage Mode after curing it].

I wasn't a fan of GE at first because the early versions were flaky [and imo quite dangerous], but it now runs smoothly and downloads are quicker than with WU or MU. Under the 'Device' tab you can do basic backups and easily transfer favourites etc from one device to another also:

pn8y