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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / February 2010Problem using gps unit with Mac
I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The problem is that after doing this the gps unit crashed spectacularly the next time I used it with the flash card inserted. I contacted Garmin support who straight away identified the cause. Apparently the reason is that when I link the gps unit to the Mac with a USB connection, the SD card is mounted as a removable drive whereupon it immediately gets splattered with (literally) dozens of hidden files. The only solution then is to connect the card to a Windows machine and reformat it. After that everything returns to normal. What I would like to know is if there is any way I can prevent OS X from writing *anything* to the card. I just want to copy data from the card and then eject it without altering its contents in any way. If I can't do this it will be disappointing to say the least. It will mean the only way to read the data from my gps unit will be to use a Windows machine to copy it onto a flash drive or something like that. Can anyone help?  SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com > I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac > (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The problem [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > data from my gps unit will be to use a Windows machine to copy it onto a > flash drive or something like that. I have had this issue with a tomtom SD card. Problem was (with the tomtom) that the mac writes what unix consideres a hidden file, ie, one starting with a dot, and the tomtom is a unix machine, sees the hidden file and assumes it is a system file. Maybe something similar is happening. If you add the device or SD card to the time machine exclusion list, that will remove some files, but if you open the folder you will get some of the files. You can remove those files with the terminal though, rather than reformatting if you want to. However, if you are copying it from an SD card socket, you can just write protect it, and then you wont have any files written to it (SD cards have a write protect tab on the side) SignatureWoody Woody wrote on Feb 5, 2010: >> I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac >> (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > write protect it, and then you wont have any files written to it (SD > cards have a write protect tab on the side) It's actually a microSD card. I don't think they can be write-protected. I was wondering if there's any way to make the device read-only as far as the Mac is concerned Looks as if I'll be stuck with using Windows for this though. Damn! SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com >It's actually a microSD card. I don't think they can be write-protected. I >was wondering if there's any way to make the device read-only as far as the >Mac is concerned SD adapter? SignatureGeoff Berrow (Put thecat out to email) It's only Usenet, no one dies. My opinions, not the committee's, mine. Simple RFDs www.4theweb.co.uk/rfdmaker Geoff Berrow wrote on Feb 5, 2010: >> It's actually a microSD card. I don't think they can be write-protected. I >> was wondering if there's any way to make the device read-only as far as the >> Mac is concerned > > SD adapter? Yes of course! I never thought of that. It actually works. It still means I have to take the card out of the gps to read it, but that's a *lot* better than having to fire up my old Windows laptop. Thanks! SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com > Woody wrote on Feb 5, 2010: > [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > > Looks as if I'll be stuck with using Windows for this though. Damn! No you aren't, there is this nifty software that'll do just the job <http://www.zeroonetwenty.com/blueharvest/> Receipt says I paid £10 for it a few months ago, I bought it as I use a USB stick in my JVC headunit and it was trying to play all the resource forks first, bit annoying with few hundred songs in a folder. It's a good seamless solution though, I've installed that and it just gets on with it in the background. Sorted. SignatureJon B Above email address IS valid. <http://www.bramley-computers.co.uk/> Apple Laptop Repairs. Jon B wrote on Feb 5, 2010: >> Woody wrote on Feb 5, 2010: >> [quoted text clipped - 52 lines] > It's a good seamless solution though, I've installed that and it just > gets on with it in the background. Sorted. That looks like the solution I was looking for. I'll look into it straight away. Thanks a lot! SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com > I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac > (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The problem [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Can anyone help? I don't try to prevent it but when the copy is complete, I open a terminal window, cd to the mounted device and issue the command: find -d . -name "\.[^\.]+" -exec rm -r -f {} \; The "find" command finds and deleted all fines whose name begins with a "." and is followed by at least one character which is not a ".", leaving the current directory (".") and it's parent (".."). SignatureTom Stiller PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3 7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF >> I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac >> (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The problem [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > "." and is followed by at least one character which is not a ".", > leaving the current directory (".") and it's parent (".."). An rm -rf .* will not delete the current directory or the parent, even as the root user. This is true of every unix I've ever used, and I've used lots of them. It will, however, delete everything in the current directory. Specifying the "?" wildcard after the dot will select all files that begin with a "." that have exactly one character after the "." then follow up with a "*". As such you can simplify this command and skip the find with: rm -rf .?* Regular expressions can be powerful but they're superfluous and confusing to those that don't understand them. I suggest don't use them when simpler more straightforward means exist. e.g. /* Typical Unix box */ Kepler 26% uname -aR IRIX Kepler 6.5 6.5.10m 10120104 IP22 /* Listing with .files and regular files. */ Kepler 27% ls -ltra total 24 drwxr-xr-x 47 user user 12288 Feb 5 09:50 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 .as -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 .bs -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 .cd -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 foo -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 new drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 81 Feb 5 09:59 . -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 goo /* Simplified "remove all .files" */ Kepler 28% rm -rf .?* cannot remove .. /* .files gone, rest of contents remain, including the "." and ".." */ Kepler 30% ls -ltra total 24 drwxr-xr-x 47 user user 12288 Feb 5 09:50 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 foo -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 new -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 goo drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 45 Feb 5 09:59 . Signaturethepixelfreak > >> I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac > >> (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > "." then follow up with a "*". As such you can simplify this command > and skip the find with: I used the construct above to avoid error/warning messages. > rm -rf .?* > > Regular expressions can be powerful but they're superfluous and > confusing to those that don't understand them. I suggest don't use them > when simpler more straightforward means exist. e.g. But you'll advocate using then anyway, or do you not think .?* is a regular expression. :-) > /* Typical Unix box */ > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Feb 5 09:59 goo > drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 45 Feb 5 09:59 . SignatureTom Stiller PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3 7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF > But you'll advocate using then anyway, or do you not think .?* is a > regular expression. :-) Of course it is! I just come from the "lazy old school Unix system programmer" philosophy. Less is better. That's why I invented filename completion! Just kidding about filename completion. :+p Signaturethepixelfreak > I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac > (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The problem > is that after doing this the gps unit crashed spectacularly the next time I > used it with the flash card inserted. Hi, Mike, I see you've got this all sorted out, but I've been using Garmins with my Mac for years, and I've never had this problem. My Garmins all use regular size SDs, and I've connected the cards to my Mac via a card adapter and by leaving them in the Garmins which I attached via USB cable. When I attach the Garmins via cable, the both the unit and the SD card inside it show up on my desktop. I copy files directly to the SD card via card adapter - both maps and music (my Nuvi plays music from the card through the car radio). I have a Colorado, too. I've had other Garmins which I've forgotten. > I contacted Garmin support who straight away identified the cause. Apparently > the reason is that when I link the gps unit to the Mac with a USB connection, > the SD card is mounted as a removable drive whereupon it immediately gets > splattered with (literally) dozens of hidden files. The only solution then is > to connect the card to a Windows machine and reformat it. After that > everything returns to normal. This is just stunning to me. I've never had to format the card by Windows. I've never had it suggested. Garmin has the best Mac support I've seen from a GPS company. Their Mac programs work like a charm, and so does dragging files to the SD in a card reader; I also delete files by dragging them to the trash and emptying it. Phil Stripling wrote on Feb 5, 2010: >> I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac >> (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > so does dragging files to the SD in a card reader; I also delete files > by dragging them to the trash and emptying it. Well I can assure you that it does happen with the GPSmap 76Cx. The exact procedure I have followed is to connect the Mac to the gps with a USB cable and then go to the Setup menu on the gps and set the Interface to 'USB Mass Storage'. The Data Card then is mounted on the Desktop as a removable drive and the data on it can be read in the usual way. (The 76Cx can be set to record a very large number of daily tracklogs to the card, which is what I'm interested in reading). But, as I said, the Mac also writes a number of invisible files to the card (all beginning with .). These are not normally seen by OS X, but do show up if you open the card on a Windows machine. These files definitely caused the 76 to crash - every time. The Garmin support person I spoke to was reasonably clued up about Macs and immediately identified the problem, which suggests that it happens to others (Perhaps newer units like the Colorado have improved the interface). His solution though was to use a Windows machine. A better solution was pointed out elsewhere in this thread which is to use a small utility called BlueHarvest which enables one with a single mouse click to clean any non-Mac volume of all invisible Mac files before ejecting. SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com > But, as I said, the Mac also writes a number of > invisible files to the card (all beginning with .). These are not normally > seen by OS X, but do show up if you open the card on a Windows machine. These > files definitely caused the 76 to crash - every time. I'm sorry to hear that. It seems to be device-specific (although there may be other Garmins that have that problem). Garmin offers a number of Mac applications that may help you keep track of your track. See Garmin BaseCamp, for example, on their Web site. Dot files are a Unix thing, and they are normally "seen" by OS X, but not displayed. BlueHeaven looks like a good way to keep such things from crashing your Garmin. Dot files can be shown under OS X, but the default is not to. They are readily viewable in the terminal. If you open the terminal and drag the SD card onto the terminal screen, the OS will show you the path in the command line. You can examine the files from the terminal and see all the .files and remove the by hand if you wish. That saves the US$17 for BlueHeaven, but the convenience of that application may be worth the money for most people. Glad to see you've solved the problem. > What I would like to know is if there is any way I can prevent OS X from > writing *anything* to the card. Eject the card using FinderCleaner: <http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16996> It's an old bit of software but does exactly as advertised. If you fancy paying to automate the process, read this: <http://www.emergingtechs.com/posts/prevent-ds_store-and-trashes-creatio n-on-usb-drives/> Gwynne SignatureMy real email is net, not line. Gwynne Harper wrote on Feb 5, 2010: >> What I would like to know is if there is any way I can prevent OS X from >> writing *anything* to the card. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Gwynne Yes, thanks - I've already downloaded the BlueHarvest utility. It works like a charm. SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com >I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac >(Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The problem >is that after doing this the gps unit crashed spectacularly the next time I >used it with the flash card inserted. Just a note, we don't have this problem with my wife's Garmin. Signature"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison Howard Brazee wrote on Feb 6, 2010: >> I've just taken delivery of a Garmin gps unit and I'd like to use my Mac >> (Snow Leopard 10.6.2) to read data from the unit's micro SD card. The [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Just a note, we don't have this problem with my wife's Garmin. It probably depends on the Garmin model and what are using the data card for. Mine is a GPSmap76 which like some of the other Garmin handhelds has a mode whereby it will record a daily track-log as gpx text files to the data card. I think what was happening was that the GPS was attempting to interpret the invisible Mac files as text and thereby crashing. It may well not happen if you are using the card to store other kinds of data like (for example) music, pictures, or maps. SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com >It probably depends on the Garmin model and what are using the data card for. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >you are using the card to store other kinds of data like (for example) music, >pictures, or maps. Yep. My wife's Nuvi 5000 has other problems. I can't download a Google maps to it (they told me I could, then changed their mind). Hers doesn't have a battery (they said the big screen models would use up too much power - funny with the iPad coming out). I can't try it out while it's plugged into her Mac, but have to take it to the car and plug it in. I have ordered their extra trip planning software and will see how it works. GPSs have competition now and coming, they had better get their act together. Signature"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison Howard Brazee wrote on Feb 8, 2010: >> It probably depends on the Garmin model and what are using the data card >> for. [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > GPSs have competition now and coming, they had better get their act > together. In my case I would have thought that the fault lies more with OS X than with the Garmin gps unit SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com >In my case I would have thought that the fault lies more with OS X than with >the Garmin gps unit Nah - the Garmin shouldn't trip up just because some spurious files have been dropped on the card. It should only pay attention to files it knows it should use. That other Garmins in the range deal with those .files by ignoring them shows that Garmin know this too. My TomTom is completely unconfused by random files dropped into its flash storage, for instance. Cheers - Jaimie Signature"I have an asteroid named after me. Isaac Asimov's got one too. It's smaller and more eccentric." -- Arthur C. Clarke Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote on Feb 8, 2010: >> In my case I would have thought that the fault lies more with OS X than >> with [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Cheers - Jaimie Well OK, but equally shouldn't the OS take home any litter it has dropped when the drive is ejected? SignatureMike Lane UK North Yorkshire email: mike_lane at mac dot com >Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote on Feb 8, 2010: > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >Well OK, but equally shouldn't the OS take home any litter it has dropped >when the drive is ejected? That 'litter' is to allow the storage of filesystem objects useful in OSX that cannot be natively stored in the (spectacularly shite) FAT filesystem. Stuff like recycle bins, search indexes and file metadata. Windows does the same (bins and indexes, anyway - I think it requires FS support for metadata, ie NTFS format) given the chance, but presumably the Garmin software devs were aware of those and worked around. In the wrong way - by working with an ignore list instead of a "use these" list, I suspect. Cheers - Jaimie SignatureEvery time we start thinking we're the center of the universe, the universe turns around and says with a slightly distracted air, 'I'm sorry. What'd you say your name was again?' -- Margaret Maron > That 'litter' is to allow the storage of filesystem objects useful in > OSX that cannot be natively stored in the (spectacularly shite) FAT > filesystem. Now don't blame the FAT filesystem deficiencies on (a sub cult) of Islam. SignatureA computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard. > Yep. My wife's Nuvi 5000 has other problems. I can't download a > Google maps to it (they told me I could, then changed their mind). I have a Nuvi 660 which I use only for in-car navigation and a Colorado which I use for walking around, finding caches, and such. There is a Web site on how to download and use non-Garmin maps at http://garmincolorado.wikispaces.com/ for the Colorado. I would expect there to be similar sites for the Nuvi. I belong to a Yahoo group for the 660: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/garminnuvi660/ and there probably are Yahoo groups for the Nuvi 5000 where users exhcange information on how to use non-Garmin maps. Garmin has the following Mac programs on their Web site: BaseCamp Mapinstall MapManager POI Loader RoadTrip WebUpdater (these are the ones I know about). Check that Colorado web site I link to and see how you load non-Garmin maps onto the Colorado - it may be similar to using them on the Nuvi. If you (or your wife) are interested in pursuing loading free maps on her Nuvi, I'm confident there's a way to do it. It's just a matter of finding the Web sites that deal with that GPS. I load maps of Burning Man on my Colorado, along with free maps of my local area. There are some restrictions (the Colorado can't navigate on the free maps I use, but since I'm walking, it's not an issue for me - if you use the Nuvi in a car, it's a problem), but you may find work arounds for whatever use you want to make of the free maps. Good luck and have fun. |
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