SD Card vs Internal memory - Maps / Speed / Any difference?

[Piggie]

Can someone give me a quick overview here.

My 720 has 2GB internal memory and there's no room for a map update I'm being offered via the tomtom home software.

I have a 2GB SD card I can plug into the slot.

So I have a few questions:

1: Does the TomTom now treat this as 4GB of memory and it's transparent to the user ?
2: Can maps be put on the SD card so you have some maps on internal memory and some on the SD card memory?
3: Is there any speed difference between internal and SD card access for maps? (assuming it's a quality SD card of course)

Is there a PREFERRED way of laying things out re internal / sd card memory and what you put in which place?

Anything else I should know?

Many thanks.

 

[dhn]

The 2 gig card should be a sdhc card, a 4 gig is better. And the faster the speed, the better.

You can have one map on internal and another on the card. Then switch maps using Preference-->Manage Maps-->Switch maps. TT does treat sd card storage in addition to its internal, yes. So it's as if you had 4 gigs.

 

[Piggie]

Thanks for the reply.

Well, the card I have is just a 2GB and it's not a SDHC card. It's a Sandisk card, called something like extreem ultra III (or something like that) supposed to be one of the very fastest cards when I bought it, but as I say, don't think it's SDHC if that matters?

It would all be ok, but when I plug my TomTom in and look for updates, it says there's a new Great Britain map of 200mb and I only have 100mb free on the TomTom 720 (as far as I know there's nothing I can delete more) that woud free up much space.

I already have Great Britain and Western Europe on the TomTom but that's bigger than the new file, so not quite sure what's going on ?

 

[mvl]

Well, the card I have is just a 2GB and it's not a SDHC card. It's a Sandisk card, called something like extreem ultra III (or something like that) supposed to be one of the very fastest cards when I bought it, but as I say, don't think it's SDHC if that matters?

Your card will work fine.

SDHC is a standard for 4 gigs plus. I don't believe any 2gig SDHC cards exist. Assuming you have app 8.3 or later, Tomtom will have no problem reading a 2gig or smaller SD card, and no problems reading 4gig or larger SDHC cards.

There is no industry standard on 4 gig and 8 gig SD (non-HC) cards, so Tomtom compatibility on those is hit-or-miss. Very few people are selling those cards anymore.

I already have Great Britain and Western Europe on the TomTom but that's bigger than the new file, so not quite sure what's going on ?

I'm not sure I 100% understand your question. Tomtom sells a Western Europe map that includes Great Britain, and a separate Great Britian "UK+Ireland" map. You could buy either, the UK+Ireland map is smaller and cheaper.

3: Is there any speed difference between internal and SD card access for maps? (assuming it's a quality SD card of course)

After a recent application update (8.350) it appears to me that Tomtom slowed down the SD reader a bit. This slowdown doesn't seem to happen on the internal memory. So I feel the internal memory is now slightly faster. Maybe you'll save half a second in planning an average route. You save 3-5 seconds on a long (1000 mile) route if you use internal memory.

 

[doctormstein1]

make sure you remove all the languages and voices you will never use. For me I only keep one computer voice Dave