Thread: anything special about SD cards in Garmin Zumos?

I have been trying to copy the files of a 2Gb SD card in my Garmin Zumo 550 onto a 4GB SD card, formatted and with identical files so that I can later add some updated maps in the extra space it has.

But....
The Zumo acknowledges that the card is there, but fails to read the maps that are on it, exactly the same folder and maps that were on the 2GB card.

This makes me think there is something hidden here, either a file or some form of formatting, that tells the Zumo that this card is not the one from before. So the question is whether there is some special way that SD cards have to be formatted for a Garmin Zumo? I do not have this issue with my Garmin Montana.

Originally Posted by Giomen

Probably you have an outdated SW down to ver.3.00. for your Zumo 550. Garmin adds support for SD card above 2�� (SDHC) in that version. From ver.4.80 Garmin also added the ability to read the map file above 2Gb.

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Thanks - that makes a lot of sense! I come from an IT background, and the problem just smelled of something low level like that. I will get my friend to check the revision, but my guess is that it has never been updated.

Everything I read is that Garmin Express should be used, but because I have a garmin Montana, I use Basecamp, and it picked up the Zumo okay and also offered to update its firmware, which makes me wonder whether Basecamp is a sufficient substitute for Garmin Express, or is there something that the Zumo explicitly needs Garmin Express for?