If you are like me, you carry your handheld GPS with you wherever you go. I can never seem to keep up with my USB flash drives though. They are never with me when I need them. That doesn’t matter because you can turn your micro-SD card-equipped Garmin handheld into a portable flash drive. You’ll need your GPS and transfer cable. Here are the simple steps:
- Connect your USB cable to the computer and Garmin and turn the Garmin on. The computer would need the Garmin USB driver loaded.
- Go to the main menu of the Garmin (I typically push the menu button twice no matter what page I am on) and scroll to the setup icon and press the enter key.
- Scroll to the interface icon and press the enter key.
- Scroll down to the USB Mass Storage button and press the enter key.
- Your Garmin is now in Mass Storage mode (can’t use the GPS capability or get a screen shot).
- Open Windows Explorer and browse to your newly-mounted drive. The drive name will typically be what you named your SD card (or how it came from the manufacturer). Files can now be copied to and from the GPS.
- After files are transferred, use the Windows Eject or Safely Remove Hardware techniques disconnect the GPS from the PC.
- Press the Garmin power button to exit Mass Storage mode.
- According to Garmin, this technique works similarly on Macintosh computers.
When I want to work with my .gpx files in software such as GPSTrackMaker, I just put my 60CSx into Mass Storage mode and open the files straight off the Garmin – convenient!
