Does anyone know someone who knows how to reformat Navigation Hard drives? Mine just died on me today? Or is it something I will not be able to reformat and have to buy another one?

 

talk to paul mooney, i think thats his name. . .do a search. . he has mastered the 99 TL hard drive. . .it plugs into a regular pcmcia laptop port

 

That name does not come up when I run a search. Do you have an E-mail of any sort?

 

Just got a 99TL w/Navi and no hard drive. I bought a Sandisk PCMCIA Compact Flash (CF) adapter ($13 @ Best Buy) and a Sandisk 512MB CF ($38 after rebate @ Best Buy also). Good thing my local acura dealer (Acura of Glendale) installs the navi files for free. Check with your local dealers because there are only a few dealers that have the navi files for the 99TL hard drive. Like the said in the forum, the CF is more dependable than the hard disk bec. it has no moving parts. I really haven't seen the performance of the hard disk but even according to paul, the CF has a faster recalc speed.

 

http://www.navhelp.com/

thatll have all the info u need

 

This site is Paul Mooney.

 

Does that mean you can get a few CF and get the dealer to install different regions of maps for you? hm...

 

I really haven't tried asking the dealer to install different regions but having a CF adapter is an advantage to get multi-regions. I don't travel a lot so CA/NV is enough for me. BTW...there a pcmcia adapter that are mutli-media (i.e., CF, MMC, SD, Memory Stick, etc.)

 

So does using this CF adapter make that much of a difference? I just want something that works better and faster than the normal harddrive in the unit. If it does than I may just go that route.

 

Like I said, I never had a hard drive before so I can't tell the difference between CF and HD. But if you think of it, the HD has moving parts and the CF doesn't which means the HD is very suceptible to damage. I'm very happy now with the performance of the CF. Recalc takes only a few seconds and it's cheaper than the HD .

 

Okay I think Im going to go that route. Can you make me a list of things I will need to get and where I could go about getting the parts? I think it would be a cheaper route to just go that way than rather buy a DVD/CD Unit.

Also curious, is there any differences in function from the HD from the DVD unit? I know some Navigation units have a button feature that has easy route, shortest route and direct route. Mine just has Easy and Direct route. Also noticed when I try to find gas stations, or food places it gives me a list of stupid things that Im not even looking for. Is there something Im doing wrong or will it change once I upgrade the mapping? Or is it just a feature that the DVD units have?
Thanks

 

1. Check Best Buy or Circuit City or eBay

2. PCMCIA CF Adapter ($13)

3. 512MB Compact Flash Memory ($50 w/o rebate)

4. Check your local dealer for HD Navi files

IMO, the DVD unit has more features because of its storage capacity

 

Does anyone know if I can install a DVD/Navigation unit from a 04 TSX into my 1999 Acura TL?

 

i just bought an ata flash storage pcmcia card, its not the adapter but is just like the hard drive but alot skinnier.. anyways, i took the files off my hard drive and copied them to this card, but its not lettin the system boot up.. says somethin bout hard disk error unformatted please consult dealer.. thats the same message it gives me when my origional hard drive gets too hot and it decides to cut out. should i try the compact flash card and adapter instead or should i take this thing to the dealer and have them try to upload the files.. i just dont want them charging me 70$ to upload the data and still have this thing not work..

 

Wilp99 - please let us know what happens when the dealer installs the files. I am wondering what had to be done - other than copying the files... It seems like that is all he would do. You could try the CF at home first and see if it works - or you could see if he will upload the file to your ATA flash drive.

Also - I think it would be great if we could share the image files of the drives - once we know how to install them to a CF card. I have to reload mine - and it would be nice to not have to deal with the dealer... and simply dnload the info from the net. Not to mention having more than one region would be nice. I think it stinks that the system was as limited as it is - and they did not release all the regions to us.

 

As far as I know, even a CF can not hold more than one region. Even if it can, I doubt the software could handle more than one region/CF card. Plus even if you had all the regions, you'd have to switch them when traveling between regions and you could not pick an address in another region. That's why they went to a DVD in 2000. What do you expect for the first generation navi? If it's a big problem for you, replace it with the DVD version.

 

I called it quits and Im just upgrading my harddrive unit for the DVD unit. Its costy but damn well worth the upgrade.

 

Check on ebay. Got mine for $300

 

I have a 512MB CF with Region 1 (CA/NV). Got it installed 3 months ago and no problem so far. You're right about traveling thru multi-region. But come to think of it, more luxury car owners doesn't used their car in long trips ...just my