Zumo User Forums

Garmin's site says the zumo 396 can accept up to a 64gb microSD card. But when I go to format the card FAT32 on my computer I don't see that formatting FAT32 as an option, only exFAT, the 64gb card I bought is already formatted exFAT. Can the 396 read an exFAT formatted card? If not, how do i format this 64gb card as FAT32?

There are utilities out there that can do it. I used AOMEI Partition Assistant (free version). That was two years ago. I don't know what the capability is of the current version. This article might help: https://www.diskpart.com/articles/forma ... -0310.html

ok thanks, I tried formatting the 64gb card to FAT32 using Windows PowerShell, formatting failed, it said card too big.

twowheelstom wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2024 3:25 am ok thanks, I tried formatting the 64gb card to FAT32 using Windows PowerShell, formatting failed, it said card too big.

As expected. Normally, a FAT32 formatted device has a max size of 32GB. I'm surprised PowerShell said that the card was too big. I would have expected it to proceed but produce a formatted size of 32GB. I am pretty certain that you will need one of the utilities that can FAT32 format a larger card.

I googled the max size of file on a FAT32 formatted sd card and it's 4GB. So my next question- is there any files that Garmin installs or uses on a zumo 396 that will be over the 4GB file size limit?

No files can be over 4Gb. That why the City Navigator NT NA maps are now installed in two parts. The maps grew too big for one file, so there is a Canada/Mexico map and a U.S. map.

twowheelstom wrote: ↑Mon Jan 01, 2024 3:36 pm I googled the max size of file on a FAT32 formatted sd card and it's 4GB. So my next question- is there any files that Garmin installs or uses on a zumo 396 that will be over the 4GB file size limit?

I wouldn't think so since Garmin only recognizes the FAT32 format. We know that recent CN NA NT maps installed on the XT are in two files. The installation is to Internal Storage which I assume is also FAT32, requiring he two-file installation because of the map size. This is indicative of Garmin being attentive to the file size limitation.

oh I see now, I will need 2 separate microSD cards to get all of the North America maps on the zumo 396. Is this the correct process then? I should put my new 64GB microSD card into storage and get a new 32GB FAT32 microSD card, then download all of NA maps onto my computer only, then using MapInstall break up NA onto a file size less than 4GB and install each separate MapInstall file onto 2 separate sd cards. with the 396 connected to pc, Is the right plan to take?

This is on the Garmin support page for Zumo 396: The device supports microSD® memory cards from 4 to 64 GB.

That is misleading because I cannot use my new 64gb sd card.

If I may suggest- put the new SD card in the zumo and see what happens. I did this with the last 3 cards I bought and 2 different zumos asked me if I wanted it formatted, including the 128 gb card in my XT. Sometimes there is no need to use a computer for this but be aware- in the zumo world, you may have corrupted the card and it may not work. I have done this only with brand new, out-of-the-package cards. I believe this is why I have been succesful using significantly larger capacity cards than the manuals "allow", same with the number of songs. Manuals in the past said 1000 max whereas I have always had 2000+ on the card with no problem. I have many more than that now.