Upgrading C-120 Software question?

[sailfish2660]

When I was reading over the manual for upgrading my C-120, it mentioned that I need to use a "Sandisk" compact flash card with at least 8MB's of free space. Now for my question...Does the compact flash card have to be a "Sandisk"? Can it be another brand?

I appreciate any help anyone could provide.

[scott-hydra24]

It can be any brand.

What I remember from the last time I upgraded though...if it's a 512mb card or bigger make sure you format it as a FAT partition. Windows wants to make it FAT32 at that size, and the machine doesn't recognize it (C120). You can take any normal flash card and tell Windows to format it as FAT, use it to do the update, than make it a FAT32 partition so your camera is happy.

[Auburn1]

It has something to do with the way the card is formatted, and I don't even think Raymarine has a full handle on it. Supposedly smaller cards are formatted differently than larger cards, which is where you may have mixed results. Any Sandisk card will work but you need to use a smaller card (<64MB) if its not a Sandisk. That's a rule of thumb, not an absolute. You won't screw anything up by using another card so you might as well try, you just might not get a successful upgrade in which case you'll know why.

[HDRyder999]

People sell small Sandisk cards on ebay for very little money.

[sailfish2660]

Thanks for everyones help.

I just bought a 32MB card from Ritz camera. I will try to update the software this weekend.

Thanks...

[scott-hydra24]

The exact answer is what I posted above. Every windows operating system after Windows 98 Second Edition will format larger flash drives/disks using the Fat32 file system, which is NOT compatible with the C series. You have to manually tell it to format the larger cards using the FAT file system. All cards below a certain size are automatically formatted as FAT which is why Ray recommends those.

It really has very little to do with the brand and much more to do with formatting. You can go to CVS and buy a $9 card that will work fine.

Walmart sells new cards for as little as $5 or $6 bucks which will work fine. If you buy a small card, say 8-64mb no reformatting is needed.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...132913%3A63986

Circuit City has them in stock in almost all stores for just under $10 out the door...can't beat that really:
http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catO...ategorylist.do