EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff => Topic started by: JLM on April 09, 2014, 02:22:40 am
-
I just got a Garmin GPS for my aircraft. The unit is model GNS 430W. The data card is a 16mb flash memory in a special plastic case. I understand that the card is in a "proprietary" Garmin format. Shockingly, the cost for replacements is $195 USD! (Note that it is 16mb, not 16gb!). How difficult would it be to reverse engineer the card to make a reasonable-cost replacement. Thanks
-
If you can put it into a card reader, you might be able to use something like OnBelay v2 (http://www.compuapps.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102:onbelay-v2&catid=47:recovery-software&Itemid=195) to do a low-level backup and restore to a new card.
Put original card in, then:
Tools > Backup > (select filename) > (make sure 'Exact duplicate...' is ticked) > Backup
Insert new card, then:
Tools > Restore > (select previously backed up .FMB file > Restore
-
Apparently it's just a raw NAND flash, small-block type:
http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/garmin-datacard-DIY.html (http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/garmin-datacard-DIY.html)
http://web.archive.org/web/20031205184030/http://home.fuse.net/pagrosse/mem_cart.htm (http://web.archive.org/web/20031205184030/http://home.fuse.net/pagrosse/mem_cart.htm)
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?6700-Converting-a-16M-Memory-card-to-a-128M-memory-card (http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?6700-Converting-a-16M-Memory-card-to-a-128M-memory-card)
No explicit pinout given but you could probably RE something (do post it if you manage to!)
It could be difficult to find small-block NAND these days, however.