One XLS updates form SD card reader! ?

[TomSawyer]

I use a 2GB SD card in my One XLS. I just put the card into a SD card reader and plugged it into the USB port. TT Home 2.5 launched automatically and recognized the card reader as my GPS device (weird I know). All updates were carried out about 5 times faster.
Even more confusing was I clicked on operate my device and it launched the regular simulation screen and showed full satellite lock at my last location. It indicated 8 to 12 sats were visible but they were changing randomly every second. (I know that it is not a valid nav solution just some kind of error.)
TT home could not tell the difference that my device was not connected.

It sounds like a fluke but I want someone else to try and see if it works for them as well. It works every time I try it.

It is an A-data SD card and this is the $1.95 card reader:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11

Maybe everyone knows this already but I could not find a similar post.

 

[dhn]

Because all files/folders need to be on a sd card and apparently are for your unit and that model, Home can't tell the difference between a card reader and the physical tomtom unit. All it 'knows', is that it sees what it has to see. (a benefit of utilizing a card reader over the actual unit in this scenario is that transfers to/from a card reader may be at the usb 2.0 protocol level while read/writes to the actual unit may be at the slower 1.1 protocol).

The satellite bars in Operate My Home are a simulation of the real thing.

 

[Gilbert]

It is a known behavior that when TT Home discovers a USB device with NavCore it treats it as a regular TT device. Having it connected to a SD reader makes the file handling faster because all TT ONE models are hindered to USB standard v1.1 when connected in the TT slot vs the USB standard v2 of your card reader which, in theory, is up to 40 times faster. That is the reason why making a complete backup/restore of the SD card so much more recommandable with the SD reader. GO 7x0 and 9x0 models don't have this limitation because they use a different highly integrated Samsung chipset that features USB v2 standard.

 

[sab]

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

[sageuvagony]

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

I posted a thread with this same exact topic a few months back lol. I too was freaked out when Home thought I had connected my TomTom to the PC when it was really only the SD card via a reader. Ever since I found that out, I only updated via the reader, since the reader will operate at USB 2.0 whereas the TomTom unit will operate at an excruciating USB 1.1 speed. USB 1.1 REALLY sucks when it comes to installing a new map, or backing up/restoring a unit. You're talking a huge difference in speeds. 1.1 is at 12Mbits/sec vs 2.0 at 480Mbits/sec.