Update erased favorites, personal POIs. Get them back?

[movrshakr]

I did a map update and have lost favorites,and the personal POI destinations I had saved. First time this has happened. I did a backup before the update--can I get them out of that?

Scared some though as it said I did not have enough room and wanted to delete some stuff. That happened efore the backup. What files do I look for in the backups to recover these, and where do I putthem?

 

[movrshakr]

Followup--
DISASTER
I HATE TOMTOM

Found that favorites and some other stuff are in mapsettings.cfg.
One in backup was 2KB.
One on device was 2 KB, but I copied the backup one onto device anyway.
No favorites in it.

Five years of critical (to me) saved destinations gone.
This is a complete and total disaster for me.
Probably about 30 places were in it--all marked by saves when at the location; many of them several states away. And quite a few were places that have no address (small cemeteries, spots inside state parks--such as that.

DID I SAY I HATE TOMTOM?

I am so Pi**** and bummed out it is impossible to put into words how bad I feel right now.
I did the backup, and Tom Tom still found a way to run me over.Do they sit around and laugh at the destruction their software causes?

 

[tgold]

You don't mention your device model but because you apparently are able to find files on it I infer it is Nav2 TomTom Home managed. To be recognized the file mapsettings.cfg must be placed into the folder of the related map. Look for a folder named like the name of your map, so if the map is named USA look for a folder named USA. If your map is named Western Europe then look for a folder named Western_Europe. Put the mapsettings.cfg file into that folder. For safety you should backup the existing mapsettings.cfg in that folder before overwriting it with the one that contains your valuable Favorites

 

[dhn]

Many convert favourites to a custom poi file to avoid having to worry about the mapsettings.cfg file each time.

See here:

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=71517&highlight=

 

[mvl]

Tomtom models launched in 2008 and earlier (application version 8 and earlier) do not retain favorites during a map update. There are some workarounds, but they do cause the device to crash repeatedly at times.

All newer models (launched 2009 and later) retain favorites during map updates.

 

[movrshakr]

Responses to many...
Device model 540XXL.
2008? Is 540XXL b4 2008?
However, I never lost anything on ANY previous update until the last two. That is the reason I was sure to make a backup before doing the update. Made no difference. TT erased it anyway.

I ==DID== have a custom POI category; it erased that too!

I did put the mapsettings file in the map folder; I did back it up first.

 

[dhn]

If you had a custom poi category AND did back it up then you should be able to use Explorer to copy it to the specific map folder on your device.

 

[movrshakr]

Reread the first post...
"... it said I did not have enough room and wanted to delete some stuff. That happened before the backup."

However, if you can tell me the folder and file name that my custom POIs were saved in (the name of the category that held them was "MyFavs," I would like to go look in the backup and see if it was, or was not, one of the things TomTom erased before the backup.

 

[dhn]

Home-->Tools-->Home Preferences-->Folders.

See where on your computer it shows Copy to Computer.

Maybe something like this: C:\Users\Owner\Documents\TomTom\HOME\FromDevice

 

[movrshakr]

Home-->Tools-->Home Preferences-->Folders.
See where on your computer it shows Copy to Computer.
Maybe something like this: C:\Users\Owner\Documents\TomTom\HOME\FromDevice

Of the 27 items in that folder, which file contains my destinations I had saved in a My_Favs POI category I had created? None of the files have a name like that.

Wait--I found it in
C:\TomTom\HOME\Backups\XXL\Backup01\InternalMemory\USA_Canada_and_Mexico_P
as My_Favs.ov2

It only contains about 288 bytes, but in a hex editor I can see the names of some of the places I stored, but there sure doesn't seem to be enough other bytes to store coordinates there

 

[dhn]

Download Poi Edit from here: http://www.poiedit.com/
Use the 'download' link on the left side. Open your ov2 file in it. It will show what's there.

 

[movrshakr]

I will do that.

A side question...if I want to manually save and restore my POI 'folder,' without using POIedit, how do I do that?

Can I just find the ov2 file on the device, save it to my computer, then copy it back after doing the map update?

If I do that, will the device properly 'see' the file, or is it indexed somehow and would be missed even though physically there.

 

[canderson]

You've just described your solution, spot on. They're individual files, not folders. Once you have created you own POI(s), you can copy them (the *.ov2 files) from your map folder to your PC for safekeeping. No indexing or other fancy stuff. That said, a map update should NEVER delete your own *.ov2 POI files. The only file at risk is the mapsettings.cfg file that contains your favorites. By putting those into an *.ov2 POI of your own instead, they should carry over time after time.

 

[movrshakr]

And is it possible to rename my personal POI folder/category ov2 file and it show that way in the device (after copying the renamed file back onto the device)?

Specifically, when creating the personal POI category, I realize I forgot to put the underscore at the beginning so it becomes the first item in the category list..."_My_favs" instead of "My_Favs"

Also, I have a terrible time trying to capitalize in the name other than the first letter--cannot find the 'shift' key. Am I imagining this problem or dumb or what?

 

[canderson]

You can name it anything you like. The filename portion ahead of the .ov2 is how you'll see it listed on your unit when you access it.
Even though you've created it on the TomTom, you can always rename it with your PC if the capitalization (or lack of underscore or whatever) is bothersome. After powering up, your unit will use whatever it finds already present in the way of POI files/filenames.

The underscore might not be all that important once you've used your new 'category' since your unit remembers the most recently accessed and keeps those on the main page when doing a POI search.

 

[movrshakr]

That is great news. I can actually control this thing now.
Yes, the last used does show as you say, but if you do a search in some other category, the quick access to your category is gone off that screen, and you have to scroll down the cat list to get to it the next time--thus good to put it at the top.

 

[movrshakr]

Followup to document for future readers...

I now believe that manual preservation of things is the best choice so long as you are conversant with dealing with files'folders when device is attached to your computer. A side benefit also if you can use POIedit to manipulate your personal .ov2 file(s).

I used POIedit to copy some saved destinations in one ov2 file but not in the other into the one I really wanted to use. It took quite a bit of experimenting, as use of POIedit is not immediately evident. That means always work on COPIES of your files, not your only one. I also edited the names of the destinations to be just what I wanted.

And I renamed the ov2 file to be just what I wanted also--with a leading underscore to make it appear at the top of the category list--and caps where wanted.

Then I copied it and it's corresponding bmp icon file (same basic name as the poi ov2) into the folder on the device that had the existing ones. For now I left all there until sure everything is OK, but it is (appear and is accessible on the 540XXL when it is in operating mode), so next time I hook up, I will delete all of the 'extra' personal POI ov2's on the device.

Finally, I created a folder in Documents on computer (so it gets backed up) and saved there the POI ov2, the bmp and mapsettings.cfg. Now, if disaster happens again, I can get back everything important.

 

[canderson]

The nice thing about these older units is that you can readily treat them as an external drive, similar to a thumb drive. However, there is a caveat when doing so.

When connecting, Home will usually fire up. That's OK. Just minimize it to get it out of your way.
Do what you wish with your PC regarding the movement and copying of files, folders, whatever. We even recommend this method for backup (see here >>> https://www.tomtomforums.com/thread...-to-the-computer-and-how-to-restore-it.17864/
Now .. one IMPORTANT thing about USB storage devices, no matter what type, is that you shut down the USB connection 'neatly' so as to close them out properly if anything has been moved or written to the device!
Using the USB icon that the OS supplies in the lower right in the systray will usually NOT do this successfully. The correct way to do it is to restore Home to a regular screen and use Home to shut down the device connection before disconnecting it! There are two ways of doing that. Either hit the little down arrow in the lower right corner of the Home screen, or use "Device / Disconnect" from the pulldown at the top.

 

[movrshakr]

Thanks for those important cautions. I was not aware that the OS's eject function didn't work.

I do not have the TT Home 'problem' because I have it set to NOT fire up when device connects (didn't want it to load a service running all the time just to do that function). But you are saying that actually I need it there to do a proper shutdown. If I have to manually start it then, when is the best point in all of this process to do that?

Also, you allude to this being possible to do on the 'older devices. I assume that means it is not possible on the newer ones. With what models did that start, and why?

 

[canderson]

Home seems to close out and reboot the unit when it performs its version of the USB shutdown. If you try the OS version, you may not see this, indicating that a proper shut-down did not occur. So we like to be safe.

And no, you cannot manipulate the contents of any of the newer (and by that, I mean for the last couple of years) units the same way you are able to do with your 340. Your 340 looks like an external drive of sorts. The newer Nav3 and Nav4 devices (we call your 340's vintage "Nav2") do not use Home, use something called MyDrive instead, and show up not as USB storage device, but rather, little mini-servers. TomTom takes the USB connection, and with some bridge software, converts that to appear as a NIC (network card) on your PC. Interaction is allowed only by use of MyDrive, and is limited to updating the unit and moving certain custom content on/off the device. All of the Nav3 devices allow for moving custom POI (*.ov2) files on and off the unit as you see fit, but the very newest (Nav4) don't even have that functionality yet.

The last really good Nav2 model was the XXL540.
The break between Nav2/Nav3 occurred in 2012 with the advent of the Via and GO models that were 4 digits (e.g., GO1000 and Via1535 ) and Via 82X series.
The break between Nav3/Nav4 occurred this year with the advent of the latest GO units.

If you have questions about any specific model with regard to which generation it's in, just ask. The list is far too long and messy to replicate here, and model numbers for the same unit vary across world markets. However, I'll 'dump' the various permutations of Nav3 units so you'll at least know what those are. If it's older than a couple of years, and not in this list, it's Nav2. If it's new in the last two years, and not on this list, it's Nav4. Where multiple names are shown with / characters, these are just variant numbers based upon where they're sold.


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