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Backup Personal Settings Instructions for Outdoor Watches
Certain circumstances may arise when you will want to save the settings, locations and device totals from your Garmin watch. Scenarios where this might occur include the following:
- Prior to performing a Master Reset on watch - all settings and profiles will revert back to factory default settings and device totals will be erased
- To reload settings and data on a replacement or exchanged device
- To back up files as desired
When the watch is connected to the computer, it will create a drive in (My) Computer or This PC [PC] or on the desktop [Mac]. By selecting the drive, a number of folders within the Garmin folder will appear. These folders represent the following information:
- LOCATION- contains Locations.fit file that stores saved locations
- RECORDS- contains Records.fit file that stores personal records you have achieved
- SETTINGS – contains Settings.fit file which stores user profile and certain device settings
- SPORTS – contains each activity app as a separate file
- TOTALS – contains Totals.fit file which stores device totals for time and distance
Backing Up Device Information
IMPORTANT Garmin Music capable watches use MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) mode. MTP watches will not display as a drive on Mac computers. Physio TrueUp is able to sync totals and records to your watch through Garmin Connect App. Settings and sports can also be synced through Garmin Connect App. For more information, see - What is Physio TrueUp?
- Plug watch into computer via USB cable
- Open Garmin Drive from (My) Computer or This PC on PC or desktop on Mac
- Select Garmin folder
- Select LOCATIONS folder
- Right-click on Locations.fit file
- Select Copy
- Paste file on desktop or other easily found location
- Follow steps 4 - 7 with for all other folders mentioned above
For steps on restoring your backed up files, select the heading below.
Reinstalling Backed Up Files
- Plug the watch into computer via USB cable
- Go to backed up file location on computer
- Press and hold Control (CTRL) key on keyboard
- Select each file (still holding CTRL key) until all files are selected
- Release CTRL key
- Open Garmin drive from Computer page or desktop (Mac)
- Open Garmin Folder
- Right-click on NewFiles folder
- Paste files into folder
The New Files folder will automatically put the files into the correct folders once the watch is disconnected and powered on. The backed up data will now show on the watch.