Copying Charts to the Computer

Former Member over 9 years ago

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Hello! I'm new to HomePort and somewhat computer illiterate! I managed to copy the charts from my new EchoMap DV54 to an SD Card. I'm trying to copy the charts into HomePort. The charts do appear but when I remove the SD Card they disappear. Isn't there a way to keep them on the computer or do I always need the SD Card handy. Thanks for any help folks!

0 rwidman over 7 years ago

I made it work by copying the SD card to a Flash/jump drive and using that on the computer w/Homeport

Yes, I figured that out as well. On my notebook I used a "mini" USB drive that's no bigger than a wireless mouse receiver. I can leave it plugged in permanently even when transporting the computer.

0 HenryH over 6 years ago

This is an old post. But for those still wondering. You can download the maps in your echomap plotter to a micro SD card. Then import the maps into your homeport. In homeport go to File - Import go to the SD card and pick the map to import. Homeport will now have your maps to work with instead of the graphic map that looks like Picasso drew it.

0 Roberden over 6 years ago

I have an EchoMap SV94 and I also use Homeport. I downloaded the unit's map as suggested and inserted it into the USB slot on my computer. Homeport finds it automatically and does display the detailed map. Problem though is that the map on the micro SD will not import (File>import>File ...) since the map downloaded from the EchoMap is an .img (image) file which is not one of those Homeport recognizes for import. I have to leave the micro SD in the USB slot for Homeport to display the detailed map. Any insights?

0 SUSSAMB over 6 years ago

You should be able to create a virtual drive so HomePort can read the map from there, or copy the files to a memory stick for HomePort to use.

0 Roberden over 6 years ago

I am well aware that creating a virtual USB will work but that is just a work around (which I have done for quite some time). My prior post was reacting to HenryH's post about being able to import the map into Homeport so that a virtual or physical USB is not needed (i.e. the map becomes native to Homeport). As explained, the downloaded map is an .img file which is not one of the type required by Homeport for import. Maybe HenryH can further comment.

0 3387536 over 2 years ago in reply to SUSSAMB

I like SUSSAMBs idea.

imdisk 2.0.10 which is an older version here at 576kb https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/imdisk_virtual_disk_driver.html

works for creating a virtual and removable drive, and homeport and garmin express can see it.

Once installed open the 'Imdisk virtual disk driver - go file mount new disk

For image file - navigate to a folder somewhere on your pc that this file will live. it will say the file does not exist and you say yes to create it.

set a drive letter.

set a size in megabytes or gigabytes

tick virtual disk drive access image file directly and tick removable media. ok

A few seconds later you will be prompted to format the new drive. I suggest FAT and give it a name like virutalSD

Once you have created a virtual drive and formatted. You can copy the files from SD cards to easily in explorer from then on.