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Getting Started

A five-minute quick start for EFIS Data Manager on macOS. For the full guide — how everything works, options, security, and limitations — see README.md.

1. Install

⚠️ You'll be asked for your Mac password during install — once for Python/Homebrew and once to approve the chart-sync mount permission. The second one is required because a bug in current macOS's built-in USB/FAT32 driver stalls large chart writes; the app works around it by mounting your EFIS drive with macOS's older FAT32 driver, which needs a one-time admin approval. It's a narrow, EFIS-drive-only permission and is removed by ./uninstall.sh. Chart sync can't complete without it.

  1. Download EFISDataManager.zip from the latest release and unzip it (a folder appears, e.g. in Downloads).
  2. Open that folder and double-click install.command.
  3. A Terminal window opens and sets everything up (Python, dependencies, the chart-checker browser, the menu-bar app, and a login item). You'll be asked for your Mac password (see the note above — once for Python/Homebrew, once for the chart-sync mount permission), and on a new Mac to approve Apple's "Command Line Tools" download. That's expected. It can take a few minutes the first time.
  4. When it says Install complete, you can close the window.

First launch may show a macOS security prompt because the app isn't notarized — see First launch security note in the README if macOS blocks it.

2. Set it up (one time)

Click the small attitude-indicator (PFD) icon in the menu bar (top-right), then:

  1. Settings… — set your aircraft tail number, choose your Archive and USB Image folders, and tick which chart products you subscribe to (VFR sectionals, IFR low/high, approach plates).
  2. Seattle Avionics Login… — enter your chart-subscription email and password. These are stored in the macOS Keychain, never in a file.
  3. Analysis Dashboard… (optional) — opens the browser dashboard; in its Settings set your number of cylinders and engine thresholds.

3. Prepare your EFIS USB drive (one time per drive)

A drive is only managed once you've prepared or adopted it — nothing happens to a drive on its own until then.

  1. Insert your USB drive.
  2. Menu bar → Prepare Drive…
  3. Select Drive to Prepare — type the exact name of your drive from the list.
  4. Choose the path the app offers:
    • Blank drive → Start clean: reformats as FAT32/MBR, labels it, and copies your current charts + nav data. You'll confirm before anything is erased.
    • Previously-used GRT drive (from the Windows tool or an older version) → Adopt & update (non-destructive — keeps your charts, just brings them current) or Start clean.
    • Already managed → Update (incremental) or Start clean.
  5. If the drive holds un-archived flight data or logbooks, you'll be asked to Import first (archive it) or Erase before it's overwritten.

A full first-time populate copies the entire chart set and can take a while; the menu bar shows progress. Leave the drive connected until it finishes.

4. Everyday use

Just plug in your prepared drive. The tool automatically:

  • archives the flight data your EFIS wrote (logs, snapshots, settings, logbook) and imports it for analysis, and
  • brings the drive's charts and nav data current.

Chart and nav-database update checks also run on a background schedule, so your local copy stays fresh between insertions.

Using more than one drive

Many owners rotate drives (one current, an n‑1 spare in the airplane, one at the Mac). Each managed drive carries its own identity file, so the app tracks them independently. Give each drive a unique label when you prepare it, and connect only one EFIS drive at a time (two at once is unsupported — see the README).

If something looks stuck

  • A large first-time sync is slow by nature. macOS writes a small hidden companion file next to each chart on FAT32/exFAT drives, which roughly doubles the file count on the initial populate (unavoidable, and harmless to the EFIS). The menu bar shows it's working, and routine updates afterward are much faster.
  • If a drive genuinely stops responding mid-sync, the app now detects the stall and reports it rather than hanging — re-insert the drive, or try a different USB port, cable, or drive.

More

Full documentation, security details, and uninstall steps are in README.md. Questions or problems: open an issue on the GitHub repository.