ULTIMATE GUIDE - CONTENT ON SD CARD - More than one way...
You may ask yourself why do we need post like this, this has been said so many times. Hmm that maybe true but since forum crashed and many newcomers are here I decided to create one post that will contain all possible options, solutions how to share maps outside internal memory or how to use both map providers.
My goal is simple, this post should serve as a reference for all future questions about SD card content. As my friend @Boki_Srb has explained this works so far up to OS. 6.0. It is no guarantee that any of this options will work with 7.0+ OS versions. When such problem arise we will try to get solution and I will update this post.
As you can see in my previous posts I asked for some better way to use maps on SD card. I even offered to pay for it. Our friend @marx offered his advice and was so kind to give me detailed instruction how to set up everything using ux and apk by Arimi. So big thank you for your help and support @marx I will try to use as many pictures as I can and I will try to simplify this guide so newcomers can understand it.
BASICS: IMPORTANT!!!
First of all let us explain some basics so hopefully this post can be used for future reference regarding SD card content.
As you all know by default any iGO navigation "stores" maps and other content on INTERNAL MEMORY inside folder content/maps
That is usually organized like this:
internal memory/iGO_XXXX/content/
map
internal memory/iGO_XXXX/content/
buildings
internal memory/iGO_XXXX/content/
poi
internal memory/iGO_XXXX/content/
dem
Of course there are more components (speedcams, phoneme) but those 4 are the "heaviest" in terms of space requirement. That became problem for people with limited internal storage like 4 8 16 GB devices etc. At the moment Here maps (Navteq) are between 6 and 7 GB in size while TomTom between 4 and 6 GB. That is a lot of hard drive space for somebody with limited memory capacity. Thanks to some people we figured out that all that heavy load can be transferred to the SD CARD. As previously said you can move more than just maps, buildings poi, dem but my advice and based on experience of many users do not transfer anything else beside those 4 categories like SPEEDCAMS.
Reason number one:
Is that they require writing permission which as of android 4.0 became more difficult. To cut the story short - IT DOES NOT WORK PROPERLY.
Reason number two:
It is 2017 and all devices have at least 4 GB space and base folder is between 80MB up to 300MB. You can find that much space.
Moral of the story - PUT THE BASE FOLDER ON INTERNAL MEMORY and those 4 previously mentioned on SD. I will show you how - Step By Step.
As you can see every iGO_xxx package contains the following:
MINIMUM FOR IGO TO RUN PROPERLY
- apk - PROGRAM
- data.zip - Graphical data, resolution etc
- content - maps, poi, speedcam, buildings, dem and other content
- save - your settings saved
- UX - certain functions/modules like weather, user profiles etc etc
- sys - written info for program (where maps are, what resolution, speedcams beeps etc)
What we need here is SYS. To be exact one part of SYS file. The part that tells iGO where maps are. As said above it contains instructions for program where to find maps etc. So normal SYS (maps part) looks like this:
HTML Code:
[folders]
data_folder_name="iGO_Israel"
linked_root_list="/storage/emulated/0 /storage/MicroSD /extsd /storage/extsd0 /mnt/extsd0 /mnt/storage/extsd0 /external_sd0/mnt/sdcard/external_sd0 /mnt/external_sd0 /mnt/sdcard/external_sd /sdcard2 /sdcard /sdcard/sd /mnt/sdcard /mnt/sd /mnt /storage /mnt/extSdCard /mnt/external_sd /mnt/sdcard/external_sd /sdcard/external_sd /storage/extSdCard"
;has_secondary_root=1
;android_secondary_root_path="/storage/extSdCard/addons"
This part is what we need
;has_secondary_root=1
;android_secondary_root_path="/storage/extSdCard/addons"
As you can notice there is a ; sign which acts as some kind of a ON/OFF switch. So in our example we have ; in front of has_secondary_root=1. In simple English that means "Hey iGO do not search for other location and your maps. You do not need secondary root. Your maps are by default on internal memory.
But if we remove that ; sign iGO program no longer sees its maps on internal memory but it looks elsewhere in this case (Samsung device)
storage/extSdCard/addons Notice how I did not add word "content" after addons, you do not need and must not. For iGO it is enough to give it location next to the content. Do not add word "content" in your sys file location.
storage/extSdCard/addons -
GOOD
storage/extSdCard/addons/content -
BAD
IMPORTANT!!! - Most common cause of failure.
One thing to remember is that not all devices name their External memory in a same manner.
Samsung does it with ExtSdCard nomenclature but others especially Chinese devices named it differently.
SAMSUNG
As you can see my ExtCard is named
ExtSdCard, which is extremely important for SYS file otherwise iGO cannot locate maps.
You need to use file manager to check exact name. Great one is
TOTAL COMMANDER. Check this picture, it is no longer ExtSDCard but series of numbers and letters..
So our sys would look like...
has_secondary_root=1
android_secondary_root_path="/storage/
86D057EDD057E24B/addons"
This is very very important to understand. You cannot blindly follow instructions and just COPY/PASTE sys settings from this post. Name of your card and this folder section of your SYS have to match otherwise iGO will show BLANK MAP. Please make sure that you used file manager and write down exact name of your SD CARD.
OPTION No.1
This is I believe the most common and easiest way to move maps. You simply need to create content folder somewhere on SD CARD and tell iGO where to look to. You can create content folder anywhere you like on your SD card and just point iGO to that location but until you get yourself familiar with this let us use default folder. In my case (NOTE 3) that is
;has_secondary_root=1
;android_secondary_root_path="/storage/
extSdCard/
Here/addons"
First we remove ; signs and now we have this:
has_secondary_root=1
android_secondary_root_path="/storage/extSdCard/Here/addons"
As you can see location is folder Addons which is present on all android devices. But in my case I have word "Here" inside location name. Reason i simple, I do not like mixing TT and HH maps. They do not come out at the same time so replacing them is little difficult. That is why i have two SYS files and which maps I need that SYS I use. You can only have one file that has a name SYS so others you have to rename to something like TTsys. So when you need that SYS just rename it to SYS only old one to something like HHsys so iGO will not se it. As you can see I need to make some corrections to my SYS. I added HERE word to the Path. iGO does now know what you need, you need to give it a clear info/path to your CONTENT folder.
Let us go inside ExtSdCard find folder addons and inside it create folder 'content" and drop the following:
map - fbl, fda, fpa, hnr, fsp, ftr
building - 3dl, 3dc
poi - .poi
dem - .dem
Now we start our iGO and it reads maps from our SD CARD. Please do not delete content from internal memory. You still need other elements. You can just leave folders maps, buildings, poi and dem EMPTY. In this case OPTION No.1 - DO NOT MIX maps from other providers. Do not store Here and TomTom maps together. POI you can combine in one folder. Buildings you can use interchangeably but in this case maps NO.
Use HERE or TomTom maps but together in one map folder NO!!! There are other ways to combine maps in the same folder. I will explain it. Hopefully you understood this and already use it.
OPTION No.2
Map changer - ux
This option is more convenient because you can simply drop all your maps inside addons/content folder and map changer will chose right ones based on your selection. That means you take both HERE and TomTom maps and put them like this:
content/maps - both here and tomtom map together in 1 folder
content/poi - poi together
content/building - you can but you do not have to. Can be used interchangeably.
dem - hills and mountains - one file for both providers
The only thing you need is UX file called map_changer and here is link to it.
- Download it
- Put it UX folder
- Chose maps and enjoy it
MAP CHANGER
It looks like this:
This is maybe the easiest way. Just take Here maps and TomTom maps, put them in 1 folder and iGO will chose maps based on your selection. POI you can mix too. DEM file and Building you can use from Here or TomTom they are quite the same.
OPTION No.3
Thx to @marx and arimi
What we need is:
- ari_utility_gja_Nextgen.zip
- Mapchanger Nextgen 2.6.apk
- com.gja.nav.utility
- Sys settings
DOWNLOAD
For me this is the best way. Simply because it let you have separate maps. You have Here and TomTom plus two more (local providers) but for now focus is on HERE or TomTom. Let us start:
1. First copy and paste file
ari_utility_gja_Nextgen.zip to your UX folder.
2. Copy
Mapchanger Nextgen 2.6.apk anywhere and install it. After that Reboot your device!!!
3. Take this folder
com.gja.nav.utility and paste it inside:
/storage/YOURSDCARD/Android/data
Inside it there are folders map_hr map_tt poi_hh poi_tt ad others. Of course hh stands for Here (Navteq) and tt for TomTom. Inside those add your Maps (fda, fbl, ftr, fsp, hnr,fjw). This is so great since we only need one building folder and one dem folder. Both HERE and TomTom use the same.
Following advice from my friend @marx I would do this:
Inside building folder I will make MIX:
Here - .3dl files
TomTom - 3dc
gas station NNG
Inside dem folder I have :
Europe_CGIR_Premium_2006.06_160208.dem file which should be goof for whole Europe.
In my case map_hr is renamed to map since I am already using it and apk renames it to map only when that folder is selected. Now we need to tweak our SYS file. As said couple of times you need to tell your iGO where maps are.
[folders]
data_folder_name="iGO_Israel"
linked_root_list="/storage/emulated/0 /storage/MicroSD /extsd /storage/extsd0 /mnt/extsd0 /mnt/storage/extsd0 /external_sd0/mnt/sdcard/external_sd0 /mnt/external_sd0 /mnt/sdcard/external_sd /sdcard2 /sdcard /sdcard/sd /mnt/sdcard /mnt/sd /mnt /storage /mnt/extSdCard /mnt/external_sd /mnt/sdcard/external_sd /sdcard/external_sd /storage/extSdCard"
has_secondary_root=1
android_secondary_root_path="
/storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.gja.nav.utility/files/addons/"
As you can see our maps are now inside:
/storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.gja.nav.utility/files/addons/ and when you open it you can see content folder.
Now we need to tell our Map_changer.apk what to do, which maps to use etc. Run map changer and go to the settings part. Click on the bottom of your apk and open SETTINGS. This varies from version to version. Settings menu can in menu different places. Just search for Dropdown Menu icon (usually three lines vertically placed)
Name itself shows IT. Click on Set SD Card path and add this:
/storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.gja.nav.utility/files/addons/
In your case can be something else.
Than NextGen program version
The best version adn only one where UX works directly from program is iGO_Israel. For other versions you may need to run program manually after you select desired maps:
This time after 5 seconds (this option must be ON) iGO will run automatically. Than you change maps withing iGO_Israel by clicking on GJA MAP UTILITY.
and chose desired maps and you iGO_Israel will start again automatically. Other version you must run it.
To be continued....