Why Not Backup and Restore All Garmin Drive files when Hard Reset Needed?

You can back up the entire GARMIN directory containing all the folders and files, just like any other directory. What they are saying is that you can only reload those files once you've done your reset.

FWIW, I have a program called Hazel running so that every time I connect to my computer, the entire GARMIN directory is copied to a Dropbox Folder and the contents of the ACTIVITIES folder is emptied into a separate folder containing all my activities going back to 2009.

What they are saying is that you can only reload those files once you've done your reset.

That's what they are saying, but it isn't true.

For clarity:

1) The reason the Garmin support page tells you to put all the contents of the folders you backed up to a single place is because the procedure to restore them is to copy all the files (not folders) to NEWFILES, not the original location.
2) The support page only talks about backing up certain folders. You'll notice that ACTIVITY, APPS and COURSES aren't listed, because Garmin isn't telling you how to back them up and restore them
3) Even so, it's possible back up and restore other folders (not mentioned at the support page) by copying their contents back to the original location, not NEWFILES
4) To be clear, there's absolutely no reason you can't back up the entire folder structure of your watch as-is. You just have to follow the correct procedure when restoring the files. Some files go to NEWFILES, others go to their original locations.


Because the support page doesn't cover all the bases, I'll copy-paste a post I made on the subject. I wish Garmin would make this a sticky or add it to a FAQ or something, but I guess it's not an officially supported process and/or nobody cares.

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https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into...00#post1282900

Based on this Garmin support article and my own experience (reset to factory several times), this is what you can recover/copy, and how. You can back everything up by copying the whole folder structure, but you can’t just copy it back onto your new watch.
https://support.garmin.com/faqSearch...PZ6PboXu5Nf7d6

Some things can be recovered by copying the files to the NEWFILES/ folder, others by copying the files to their original locations.

Copy to NEWFILES/
– Locations: copy contents of LOCATIONS/ to NEWFILES
– Despite what the page says, totals apparently can’t be restored
– Custom activities/activity settings: copy contents of SPORTS/ to NEWFILES)
(This can result in your activity list looking a little funny if you had any custom activities – might have to reorder activities until the list looks right again.)
– Records: copy contents of RECORDS/ to NEWFILES)
– Some settings: copy contents of SETTINGS/ to NEWFILES)
(Most settings, like wifi networks, and bluetooth pairings, will not be preserved.)

Copy to original location:
– Activity history (copy ACTIVITY/)
– Connect IQ Apps and app settings (copy APPS/)
– Courses (copy COURSES/)
– Segments (copy SEGMENTS and SEG_LIST)

I hope the edits I made show up. I restricted the copied folders to those recommended and ACTIVITY, APPS, COURSES, MLTSPORT, SLEEP?, and WORKOUTS

smw856 hopefully my reply above explains everything.... Note that there are many settings which simply cannot be restored, and a few things that do not even appear in the file system that's accessible via USB.

Yes, I understand that and appreciate your input. It will save me a lot of headaches. Here’s hoping all goes well. What is accessible via USB that’s not in the directory structure since the watch is attached via USB or are you referring to something requiring machine language to access?

My main point was this:

You can back up the entire GARMIN directory containing all the folders and files, just like any other directory.

You do not need to have a collection of individual files on the desktop as the OP originally noted.

From experience you can also add back the contents of MLTSPORT. However, note also that it's better to add one set of files at a time, unplug, allow them to be 'absorbed' then connect and do the next set. Make sure you add the contents and update the SPORTS files before you do the same with the MLTSPORT files.

It is also with doing a 'Press and hold power button' in between each stage. It's not as painless as we'd like, but it mostly works, especially with a bit of patience.

philipshambrook Yes, I agree that you can and should back up the Garmin entire directory as-is. It's a shame that the support page suggests doing otherwise. It's also a shame that it doesn't explain how to restore activities, app settings, etc., but that's Garmin's prerogative).

What is accessible via USB that’s not in the directory structure since the watch is attached via USB or are you referring to something requiring machine language to access?

The former.

There are settings (such as Bluetooth pairing, WiFi networks, RD Pod reminder) that don't get restored when you copy SETTINGS.FIT back. Also, if you dismiss the RD Pod reminder, others have found that there is no file (visible to USB) that gets modified, even though the state of the watch has changed (you don't see the reminder anymore). After restoring sport settings from backup, people have also found that they might be stuck with "invisible alerts" (e.g. pace/HR) which remain active, but do not show up in activity settings (which are contained the SPORT/ files). There have also been bugs relating to backing up and restoring activities which used to be in the favourites, even after a factory reset (which doesn't even delete everything in the visible file system) -- the favourites list gets corrupted even though you've restored the SPORT/ files to exactly the way they used to be, which indicates that the list of sports has state that's stored elsewhere.

Finally, if you delete all files from the file system and reboot the watch, the watch is still able to restore the entire default file system from scratch, rather than you being stuck with a broken watch.

I reset my watch to factory defaults several times (and restored as many things as I could) when I first got it (there were so many issues) and did a full directory compare before and after. Despite many things not restoring (wifi settings, bluetooth pairing, firstbeat metrics, etc.), there were no relevant user-visible differences that would point to those things being stored in a file that the user can see. This is a good thing in the case of wifi settings, for example, because your wifi password is gonna be in there.

All of this points to the fact that the watch has storage which is not user-accessible. That's a really good thing for security and in the case of someone who deletes all their files, but not a great thing when there's certain settings/data you want to migrate and can't.

@WillNorthYork and @philipshambrook Thanks for the added information and help. Some final questions:

1) What are “RD Pod reminders”?
2) What are “invisible alerts”?
3) Relative to favorites list: can you re-establish it in the usual manner?

I’ve been out of town, hence the delay. Thanks again.

Cheers!

Sorry for the overly detailed reply with some vague references. Actually, the specific details of most of that stuff wasn't important, just the fact that it's configuration/state of the watch that's stored in places the user can't get at. Better examples would be bluetooth pairings, wifi settings and firstbeat metrics. Again, as a concrete example, you could back up your watch, wipe it to factory, and restore pretty much all the files such that the file comparison between current and backup is basically the same, but you won't have the same bluetooth pairings, wifi settings or firstbeat metrics. This proves that there is stuff that's stored where the user can't access it (along with the fact that the watch can recover from deleting everything that's accessible to the user.)

Anyway, to answer your questions:
1) If you use a Running Dynamics Pod, which is the HRM-RUN without the HR, there is an alert which reminds you to take it off, after the activity, so you don't accidentally throw it in the washing machine, I guess. There was a setting to dismiss this permanently, and in the past, there was no way to bring it back other than factory reset. People tried to find a place in the visible file system where this setting was stored, in order to undo it manually, but there just wasn't one
2) Invisible alerts (bad choice of words on my part) are alerts that show up during your activity (e.g. running), but when you go to the settings to change or delete them, they're nowhere to be found. They usually happen when you restore your sport settings from a backup. In this case it indicates that the alert configuration is stored in two places: the sport config file, and somewhere else.
3) With the favourites list glitch, you just have to re-order the affected activities (in/out of the list) until everything looks normal again. It's just another example of how restoring all the files that the user can see does not restore the exact previous state of the watch.