Jack Erbes wrote in
:

Cole Maze wrote:
snip
Ever tried to make a personal copy of the Navionics Gold charts?
I did, to find that the Navionics software had destroyed the original
chart automatically and without warning. Although there is a warning
on the package saying that copying is not allowed, I did not expect
it to mean that it is was also if you make a copy for your self as a
back-up. After all, these charts cost a fortune ($300) and it seems
prudent to make a copy in case you loose the original.

What kind of media was that on? And what hardware were you using to
try to copy them? Those are available on SD, MMC, NavChart, or
Compact Flash. The NavChart is the Navionics proprietary memory
cartridge.

If there was write protect tab on the memory card, I'd think that may
have prevented that from happening.

Can you normally write anything to the card that was erased? Like
waypoints and routes?

Did you ask Navionics if that was a normal behavior?

Jack

I unfortunately made the mistake of placing a Navionics CF chart into my
laptop when I was having problems with my chartplotter. The
chartplotter wasn't able to see the chip and I wanted to know if the
chip was bad. The problem ended up being with the chart plotter and the
chip was OK. Unfortunately that rendered the chip unusable and it now
sits on my desk at home instead of being on the boat where it belongs.
It cost me $200 to replace it.

The CF chips aren't anything special. They're SanDisk 64 MB chips that
have a special format applied to them that copy programs can't
duplicate. I tried to figure out how to duplicate my chips but was
unable to figure out how to do it (and I spent a lot of time trying.) I
have dual chartplotters on board for backup, both which use Navionics
chips, and I want to have a backup of the charts too.

What appears to happen is that when you insert the chip into your
computer, it gets "mounted" and that writes a file header. This
indicates to the software in the chart plotter that the chip has been
loaded into a PC and this disables the use of the chip.

Navionics sells a USB device which allows you to utilize the chips on a
PC. From what I can tell, this device simply write locks the chip. You
can do the exact same thing by write locking the device via software. I
have a program that I run on my laptop that write locks the device and I
can use the chips without any problems.

I fail to understand why Navionics implemented this behavior. I
personally feel that they should be forced to abandon this practice.
Implementing an anti-copy system is fine, but disabling chips due to
someone simply putting them into a PC is just wrong.


-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org