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Can backup file be made smaller?

Former Member
Former Member
I have tracks and waypoints for several states, and each state has an individual backup file. The size of some backup files is HUMONGOUS, and this makes them difficult to share. It also takes a long time to backup and restore. Is there a way to make the backup file smaller?

One state contains 504 tracks and 262 waypoints. These are arranged in several folders and dozens of lists.

The backup file for this state is 96 MB. “My Collection” exported as a gpx file is 21 MB, and as a gdb file it is 3 MB.

I have been using BaseCamp for 6-8 months and am currently using version 3.3.3.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    96MB is not large for local disk storage but it sure is large for sharing electronically. Have you tried Zipping one of the large files to see how much it will compress? That might be a good solution for sharing.

    Of course, it might just be simpler to share the .GDB file instead of the backup.

    ...ken...
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    The thing I really like about BaseCamp is the ability to have folders and lists. Gpx and gdb files do NOT save these – only backup files do.

    It seems there should be a way to shrink (compress?) the backup file.

    Zipping the file only shrinks it from 96 MB to 86 MB.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Garmin backup is a zip file of the user's database. If you make a copy of your backup and rename it as type zip, you can open the zip file to see the contents.

    I wouldn't think that a zip of a zip file would be 10% smaller.

    Consider exporting each list or list folder as a GDB. Another user can import them into BC and get a similar list structure.

    If these are road trips, consider exporting the list with the routes and omit the track logs. Track logs can get quite large and are not as useful as routes for most road users.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    as DAVE726 said, the .backup is just a .zip file. If you have ran older versions of BC before, you can look inside the Database folder and delete the old databases like 3.2, 3.1...etc (if you don't need them).

    recompressing the .zip file may help if you select a higher compression rate.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    I forgot about those extra, older version databases.

    If you want to cut the 3.3 file size in half, after you've deleted the old databases like 3.2, 3.1,...,etc, and made your backup, rename the .backup to .zip, open it and delete AllData.gdb.bak and FolderData.gfi.bak from the .zip file. Rename it back to a .Backup and you'll have a much thinner file. Both the .bak files will be recreated by BaseCamp when the Restored database is changed.

    Disclaimer: You probably want to try this with a copy of your backup file so you have the original if something goes south.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    May be I am out of luck.

    I had an older backup file (different State) with both 3.2 and 3.3 databases. I was able to delete the 3.2 database and also the two .bak files. The file size was cut in half by deleting the 3.2 database.

    My current one I am concerned with only has a 3.3 database, and I was unable to delete the .bak files. I get “error 0x800004005: Unspecified error”.

    Track logs are what I need. We are a group of Jeepers that share these tracks to find our way around where there are no mapped roads.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    You are trying to delete the .bak files from the zip archive, right? You can't delete the non-zip version of those files that BaseCamp has open while it makes the backup.