Use Windows Explorer (with show all hidden files & folder option ticked) to make a backup. Just copy everything from your ?:\ drive to a safe place.

I'm trying to get your Go 520 to a fully working condition on the internal drive with the latest UK & ROI map....primarily as a test of the device.

Once that is confirmed, you can copy the whole setup over to the SD card but this time with the latest USA map. The idea being that you'll have a fully tested & known working device for use at home on the internal....and then when in the USA, you can just put the SD card in and hey presto, known working system but now also with a USA map.

So I'll say it again, follow my instructions in post #11 as we need a tested system that we can work from.

In the mean time, download the following map from [Please Register or Login to download file]

United_States 990_8362 = 1.17GB

Thanks Fred

Ill look for the option for the windows explorer hidden files/folders when I get home from work, when I plugged it into the pc/win explorer and I opened it as F drive then deleted everything on it, should I do this again prior to to looking for the hidden files and folders to ensure a clean restore?
As I've said before it was a patched tt before so I was trying to a get new fresh image for it and then back up?

That option may already be enabled as it sounds like your TT might be working...after 18 posts, I still don't know

Hi Again

I tried all the above but nothing it gets to the sea screen and shuts down, i've now deleted everything from the TT connected to home and let it update from there, now when I boot the TT asks me to set language/time date, I cant select a voice as it said no usable voices available then a screen appears and says no maps found and it sticks there, im unable to access any other screens, upon rebooting I have to go through the same again, so it looks like I have no usable image saved at all, any ideas where I can get a full image with map from?

Stick to what FRedderf said in post 16
I'm trying to get your Go 520 to a fully working condition on the internal drive
with the latest UK & ROI map (post 6)....primarily as a test of the device.
You said
Screen appears and says no maps found and it sticks there.
That is normal now you place the UK map internal.
Copy "FastActivate.exe" to your TomTom device in the root
Run "FastActivate.exe".
Select 2 and 3
Wait for the announcement navcore Patched

Done

Thank you Holyhead

and as for the voices....you can download them from here

Once downloaded, just extract the file to the root of your device...you'll end up with a folder on your device called 'voices' with them all in there

Hi Holyhead

I have done as suggested in your post I've put the UK map in the root along with the meta file he also linked to, I also put fast activate in there too, I ran fast activate from the root of the TT and selected both option 2 and 3 both came back as successful, upon rebooting the device i get as far as the sea screen and the TT turns off? honest I'm not daft really! lol

Ok now I know I stated earlier that I'm not daft but.... I now have the UK map with voices hurragh!! my backups were corrupt I'm sure of it so I formatted the TT HDD again connected to home and ran the update, once complete I thought that was it, well it wasn't i needed another 4 or 5 updates to get the system back to normal?, once all the updates were completed I followed all the advice given in earlier posts and am now happy to report the device is working well, option 7 on fastactivate now gives the following info.......
ttgo.bif:
DeviceName=TomTom GO 520
DeviceVersionHW=GO 520
DeviceSerialNumber=M2xxxxxxxxxx
BootLoaderVersion=55120
ApplicationVersionVersionNumber=9510
ApplicationVersion=1234792.1
CurrentMap=United_Kingdom_and_Republic_of_Ireland_990_8306
CurrentMapVersion=990.8306

Map(s):
G:\United_Kingdom_and_Republic_of_Ireland_990_8306\

Storage:
Size 485MB, Free 128MB

Once again many thanks for all your help thus far!

Finally....although I did link you to the official Go 520 navcore earlier that you could've used but you chose not to do that.

Ok, run it through TomTom Home software to get all of the postcode files and any minor map updates, keep going until no more updates are available.
Now delete all of your old backups as they are obviously messed up, and backup this system up as I explained earlier.

Report back when you've downloaded the USA map I linked you to in post #16 above

Sorry mate I must have missed the navcore bit, will i do that now or is it too late?

There's no point now as you've already done it the hard way

Ok so it wont make any difference then not to have it? I must have glossed over that step apologies, what do I have to do next I have an 8gb micro sd class 10 in a SD adapter formatted and ready to go, I also have an older 2gb SD card from an old camera I could use? also I've tried to download the USA map in post 16 and its in 3 parts and i keep getting server load too high message?

No, leave everything alone now...apart from deleting your old backups and creating a new one of this setup as I explained earler.

When it's fully updated by TomTom Home software, you can copy the whole lot (showing hidden files & folders of course) from the internal drive onto the 8GB card

Once you've downloaded the USA map, extract it to the SD card and run FastActivate again selecting option 2 which will give you the two maps you wanted.
When in the USA you can go into preferences to the 'Switch map' option & select the USA map.

I'm trying to download the map now but it may take some time, just to confirm once I've copied all items onto the 8gb sd I put the USA map on there and run option 2 on fast activate, do I delete the UK map from the 8gb sd once all copied across replacing with USA as mentioned earlier ie before patching the USA one?

Yes, it might take a little while but they are the very latest maps. Yes, you might get the 'server load too high, try again later' messages but if you want to avoid that you could always pay the site for premium access or even buy the map direct from [Please Register or Login to download file] themselves, it's only £34.95

It's really up to you if you leave the UK map on the SD card, it's already been activated so it'll have no effect at all on the USA map or it's activation.
Being as it's a class 10 card, it'll run just as quickly as the internal drive so you may as well leave it all in the same place for good now...that's what I'd do