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Garmin Express prompts me to install subset of European maps on my Nuvi 265W yet the SD card has plenty of space but it ignores it

Haven't updated the maps on my Nuvi 265W for a couple of years so trying to do it now. The unit has circa 2GB of internal storage with over 50% free, and an 8GB SD card with 3.5GB free yet when I try to update my all-Europe maps it says there's not enough space and prompts me to install a subset of the maps.

If I insert a blank, FAT32-formatted SD card it still says there's not enough space and doesn't give me any option to install to the SD card, if I select a subset map it installs it to the main device and leaves the SD card blank.

I can download the maps to my Mac but if I try to use MapInstall it won't let me install more than 4GB of maps, which is apparently the 'correct' behaviour according to this article

https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=b0Ekrglo5613JEGgdFsGcA

which implies I can install multiple maps on separate SD cards which seems a bit stupid! What's the point of saying 32GB is the max size for SD cards if it will only use 4GB?

Going round in circles at the moment and will have to just install the NW Europe maps for now as we live in the UK, but that doesn't include Italy and we go there quite often....

I don't understand why previous updates seemed to install by splitting things between the SD card and the main unit but now Garmin Express seems to be ignoring the SD card - which it can see, it helpfully tells me it's 0% used!

  • Files cannot be larger than 4Gb due to a limitation of the FAT32 format so any map files must be under 4Gb. If you have a subset of the map on your device the remaining map should be under 4Gb anyway, if not then you're stuck with that 4Gb limit, which isn't a Garmin issue but a limitation of the FAT32 format