How Do I Update to the Latest Version My Rooted A3 (2017)? - Samsung Galaxy A3, A5, A7 (2017) Questions & Answe

I have a rooted Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) running Android 6.0.1. I have deferred updating it to whatever the latest version of Android is right now because of the following reasons:
I’d read several people complaining about poor battery life after updating to 7.X.X.
I was afraid to mess with a rooted device and didn’t know where to begin.
It was running perfectly, so I figured, why fix it if it ain’t broke.
However, for the past few months, it has been bugging me constantly about having run out of storage space and being unable to update my apps. I have already deleted several apps that I mostly did not need and—even some I did—to make room, but it keeps filling up the space I create and throwing up the same error every few weeks. This is the current status, according to Titanium Backup:
Code:
System ROM: 4.09 GB (399 MB free)
Internal+Media: 10.7 GB (596 MB free)
Adopted storage: 63.4 GB (53.2 GB free)
I’d done the adoptable storage mod because I’d figured it would compensate for the paltry 16 GB of internal storage this phone came with, but it seems there is no escape from the terrible design of the Android operating system in this regard. (Aside: Seriously, Android is awesome, but this is the worst thing about it! It absolutely, positively drives me up the wall.)
Given this nonsense, I figured I should bite the bullet and take a complete backup of the whole system and format the thing, and then restore everything, so that it will let me be at peace for the next six months. I also thought I would take this opportunity to update to whatever is the most recent update available for this phone, assuming that it is stable and free of any major bugs.
So, can you guys please help me with the following:
Is there anything I can do to get rid of my storage woes once and for all?
How do I go about updating to the latest version of Android while retaining root (preferably using a Mac)?
Is there any way, at all, that I can do this update and fix my storage issues without having to format my phone?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my thread and respond.

Related

[Q] Memory management issues on pa3.99

I'm running PA3.99-RC2 on i9100 (nims11 release) with the gapps recommended for this release (gapps-jb-20130726-pa4.3). During the last weeks I've been seeing strange behavior on my internal memory. It started with app updates failing with "Insufficient storage available" error despite memory manager showed ample empty space available. I found a simple workaround to completely uninstall each program and to re-install them. This worked ok and curiously enough, it was was also possible to install completely new apps without problems while updates kept failing.
Few days ago I flashed in the latest version (20131031) and hoped it would solve the problem, but it only got worse. I started getting a persistent "Storage space is running out" message while the memory manager showed still more than 100M internal memory available. After this install, hhe memory warning, however, started to affect behavior and result in random memory-related errors in various apps, rendering my phone borderline useless, so this morning I backed up my stuff with Helium, did a clean vanilla re-install of the rom and gapps with a factory reset, but just after installing few important apps back, I'm getting the same persistent Storage space running out error again.
Strorage manager shows Total internal storage 1,97 GB, Apps 593MB, Cache 1,2MB, Available 184MB. The same is reflected at the graphical bar. At times the graphical bar, however, momentarily flashes to show a single gray bar which indicates like the memory was almost full. Via root shell I see about the same amount of free space, but the sytem volume total size is given only as 593MB, so I'm a little bit confused.
Any help would be appreciated.
Since this is device specific you should probably take it to Nims thread.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Pirateghost said:
Since this is device specific you should probably take it to Nims thread.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Frankly, this was my first idea, but apparently I'm not allowed to post there because I'm a new user
(I can imagine, though, why such a forum policy is in place)
In the meanwhile I managed to get my phone back somehow usable by doing yet another clean install and then not restoring the Helium backup, but only manually intalling the most essential programs I need daily like Chrome, Swype and Maps. Still, somehow a big bulk of my internal memory is mysteriously gone unaccessible for the OS.

[Q] Storage space problem with CM11.0 SGT7 for the Kindle Fire Rom 4.4.2

Please forgive my n00bishness. I tried searching for similar problems, but came up with nothing.
According to the Kindle Fire G1 device forum, I have 8 GB of internal storage (knew that), 6 GB of which is user accessible (kinda knew that. SDCARD, right?). Right? So that leaves 1.5 GB for /system, /data and whatnot for the ROM? Right? But with the latest [ROM] [4.4.2] CM11.0/SGT7 for the Kindle Fire [20140323] (copied title from topic) I now have 512 MB for the ROM, most of which is taken up and I quickly run out of app space. Something happened to that 1 GB of space and I can't get it back and I have a feeling the ROM is trying to fit on the 512 MB space that's left? Installing CM10.x.x and below this isn't a problem and I have 1.5 GB for the ROM and related addons. Disclaimer: I'm not talking about the 512 MB of RAM, I'm talking about internal storage where the 1 GB is missing for the system leaving only 512 MB.
Is this a known problem? It's such a strange problem I'm not sure where to look for answers. I only started noticing it when I tried installing only a few apps before getting a insufficient storage alert where before I could install quite a few apps before running into that. Or is CM11 just that big?
I hope this isn't a violation of forum rules by asking a question that may have been asked and answered (I couldn't find anything with search), but in case I've done something wrong, I apologize. *walking on eggshells* I'm just curious if this storage problem is an issue.
To be honest, I don't use any other ROMs except ones from Hashcode. There's always roadblocks whenever I use STG7.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
I have been using twa_priv's ROMs for sometime, never had the problem you describe. With 2 backups on my device (current install and an infriction install) I still have 2.3g of space. Whatever is causing your problem, it is not the ROM.
Thanks guys! Yeah, Every time I reinstall some of the earlier versions of the two ROMs (CM11/STG7 and vanilla CM11) the storage problem isn't an issue, so I'm not sure what's going on. If it's not happening with you with CM11 and you have the same hardware, that's weird. I might just try another ROM, like you say, and see if that works.
What would blast out all cruft on the storage? A factory reset (install) or just a system and cache wipe (update)? Just asking because I've done a FR before and that should do it, right?
My habits are: download and install, delete the download. Backup current, remove old backups or move them to my PC. I also remove programs I do not use. I stay up on keeping space on my kindle.
Thanks, Avengers! I installed Hashcode's Nightly and I seem to have my storage back (a little less than 1.5GB only because of formatting I guess). First time using a nightly build.
Ixthusdan said:
My habits are: download and install, delete the download. Backup current, remove old backups or move them to my PC. I also remove programs I do not use. I stay up on keeping space on my kindle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's pretty much what I do. I have the current versions of interesting ROMs I download on a software archive HDD and keep the SDCARD relatively free of loose ZIPs (I keep a previous working one with GApps on hand in Downloads just in case).

[Q] ISE fix - post 1 click root fix

LG TRIBUTE m#LGLS660 - VM
AV 4.4.2
KV 3.4.0+
BUILD # KOT49I.LS660ZV5
I did the 1 click root fix via http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/general/guide-root-lg-firmwares-kitkat-lollipop-t3056951
Generally it worked fine , the problem is that i did this with the explicit goal of only fixing the SD writing and storage issues
the phone only has roughly 2 gigs and 80% kitkat soaks up and not that im like app happy or anything but it makes app installation even weaker than an older cheaper phone thus killing a lot of the reason to have this fairly nice phone except for the camera which is fundamentally a non-prime reason to have this phone just a bonus.
So i installed the NextApp SDfix from the app store and applied its fix , and nothing especially changed , i also then installed link2SD
for further memory management. I can see a lot of info and i see how the system basically has the primary system memory with a legacy/emulated storage space as 2 seperate but basically same partition.
Then it recognizes as a entirely seperate ext memory the sd card , now since having tweaked with both these apps and everything generally running fine , i've moved this and that and dont have barely the basics installed i.e instagram/twitter/ ect ,... the system has about on the system drive some 300mb free obviously not a lot space in this age it is being very selective of what it will install and download from the app store , i was luckily able to reinstall CLEANMASTER after uninstalling it but i can't reinstall FACEBOOK
or download and install next to anything else that i've tried i keep getting the same error , the SD card is nearly entirely free with plenty of space soooooo
long story , made longer How can i adjust this , How can i maybe fool the o/s to think the SD card is the primary partition or something similar can i undo this? (not the root i know i can undo the root and or just start fresh from a hardreset or something
Any Input is appreciated , i am as the name so obviously suggests a new rooter not very experienced in android sw , though i was able to tweak around with iphone3s and jailbreak them which admittedly was rather fun.
Im only wanting this just so i stop getting that blasted insufficient storage error blasted google
this is technically a repost as i did post this in that said thread above but i wasnt sure if it was the right place for the inquiry.

Internal memory filling up quickly without installing anything

Hello everyone,
I i've got a problem with my phone.
Recently the internal memory has filled up and I reset the phone. I thought it was because of the update to android 10 and some leftover data. But within a month the internal memory was full again. I didn't install any big apps after the initial setup after which I had about 40GB of free space.
In the beginning of March :
In settings i had 48GB of other apps, but when i selected all apps for removal, it said it would only free about 6GB.
So, does anyone know why the memory fills up by itself?
I had the same selection of apps on my old phone with 16GB of internal memory, and never had a problem.
For now i downgraded to android 9 and didn't install a backup. The phone is not rooted and i don't want to root in the near future.
Greetings from Germany
Do a reset before upgrading to Android 10 (.46 update preferably). See if it helps.
Mustajab Is'haq said:
Do a reset before upgrading to Android 10 (.46 update preferably). See if it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It didn't help.I reset before upgrade and reset after the upgrade. Then i downgraded again, reset and upgraded without a second reset.
But i managed to narrow down the problem. The storage fills up pretty much after installing a new app.
I installed 2 or 3 apps from Play Store, each about 50MB-100MB and it filled up about 10GB!
Started a new test, installed 2 Apps, right after installation it used up 180Mb. But if i look up the total size for both apps it says 62.51 MB and 86.68 MB, so only ~150MB.
Let's see how quick the storage fills up without installing any new apps.
Edit:
Well, i just updated from Version WW-100.10.107.70 2020/03/31 to the new june update Version WW-100.10.107.87 2020/06/01 and it seems the bug has been patched.
I now have only 24.55GB used memory instead of 51.47GB. Other apps now only takes up 7.9GB instead of 35GB :silly:
Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Rooted A320FL, how to achieve permanently mounted adoptable storage?

Hello!
This is my first post in this forum, please be indulgent if I don't understand some stuff or abbreviations immediately.
I recently bought a Galaxy A3 2017 (SM-A320FL) to replace my old one with shattered screen and back cover. I tried the new Poco X3 for two weeks, but I wasn't satisfied with it since it was just wayyy too large for me, and also the phone speaker was unbearably loud (all people around me could follow the conversation on phone, even on lowest volume), which then led to the decision of sending it back and buying another used A3 2017 in good condition, as I was very satisfied with it, except of limited internal storage which continued to be an issue over months and years. And since the spare parts would have cost the same as the smartphone costs used at the moment, the decision was easy.
To avoid the single problem I had with the old phone, I wanted to root the phone right from the start so I could adopt the SD card as internal storage and/or change the folder some apps (especially WhatsApp) are storing their data and media in. Since the phone is factory reset and I have the other one which is still functioning, I don't have to take much care while trying things, which is great. I took yesterday evening until late night for that plan, and although a lot of threads and posts I read said that rooting the stock OS with latest update of Android 8 is not possible, I did it after some trial and error with flashing the custom recovery TWRP through Odin and then flashing SuperSU through TWRP. If a tutorial is needed, I'd happily write down how I did it, just ask.
But I still have a problem with adopting the storage. And as far as I understood, this is related to the storage encryption of Android/Samsung. Please explain if someone knows, I'd really like to understand the mechanisms that make all of this so laborious. I tried to mount the storage in TWRP when I started it first after flashing (it persists btw, as some people said it is gone and no recovery system can be found after the phone booted normally once, why?), but ran into the problem of "internal storage (0MB)". This was solved by wiping it, then I was able to mount the SD card as internal storage and the internal storage also was shown with a reasonable size in MB. I then started the phone which was obviously factory reset by the wiping. Unfortunately I couldn't see any results in the OS (does stock Android or file manager even show these changes in some way?) and also noticed the adopted storage was not anymore adopted when inspecting it in the TWRP recovery and again the internal storage was at 0MB. I then stumbled upon the app "Root Essentials" which is said to be able to adopt the storage, but needs a zip file which must be flashed by the recovery for that process. I tried it, but the flashing process does not work, as it can't find an installation of the app - my guess is, that this also is related to encrypted storage and the 0MB problem, how should the flash be able to look for something in encrypted space?
Soo, my problem now is, that I want to adopt the storage and don't know how to continue & where to begin. I also don't know if that app "Root Essentials" is any good, just read it at several places while googling so gave it a try. The phone is rooted with TWRP (0MB problem persisting) and stock OS now, and the adoptable storage per se is no must-have for me - if there is any other solution to migrate apps and more importantly their data to the SD card, please let me know, I'd be perfectly fine with that also.
Thank you!
Flo
Hey there Flo,
I am facing the same issues like you, always having to clear up space (e.g. Chrome cache) because the internal storage is not enough for the apps. And you cannot move many of the apps to the SD card, only their data. Last time I had to rermove Teams altogether because it was eating up 500+MB, and I couldn't afford it anymore as the free space dropped below 600MB.
Sooo, here are some basics I have learnt while looking for solutions.
Current custom ROMs are not an option for me as I use this phone for banking and production tasks, and I could not find any of them stable and issue-free enough to switch from the stock one.
The stock ROM is full of bloatware, especially Samsung stuff I do not need, and some others, like the Facebook app. However, you cannot extend internal storage with your SD card as Samsung does not allow this, and this is impossible with the stock ROM.
So I am stuck here, as I cannot leave the stock ROM, but I am constantly running out of space. Currently, I have rooted my device and installed TWRP, too, and I am planning to try one of the debloated stock ROMs to see if they can solve at least my problem with running out of free space on the internal storage.
In any case, what I can confirm is that you either have the stock ROM, and then you can only install apps on the internal storage, or if you want to extend your internal storage with the SD card, you'll have to choose one of the custom ROMs that allow this and wave goodbye to Knox and some other features.
I hope the above helps.
Hi!
Thanks for your detailed answer!
I didn't find a way to adopt the storage persistently, and I think at this point I'll just take your word that it won't be possible with the stock ROM. I knew that the stock ROM adopt storage option isn't able to be brought back by some adb shell commands as it was possible earlier (until 6.0 Marshmallow I think), but I thought that it maybe is possible by tricking the storage the OS sees with the mount in TWRP before the first start. Doesn't seem to work at all (for mostly unknown reasons, at least for me ).
And same for me, I don't know if the custom ROMs nowadays are better a lot, but doesn't sound like that as you described it. I flashed Resurrection Remix on my Galaxy S4 a few years ago, and although I liked the customizability and slimness, I too often ran into bugs and errors with it, which is why I abandoned the phone in the end.
However, I kind of found a fix I can live with on the SM-A320FL: I downloaded Link2SD from Playstore and also upgraded to the plus version, which is reasonably priced. This enables to also store app data on the SD card. I tried it with the 64GB SD card I had rolling around, partitioned it with MiniTool Partition Wizard following this guide to conform Link2SD requirements, and it worked perfectly. I also uninstalled all sorts of bloatware, and as far as i saw the shift to external storage of the apps I tried works fine. All data, including app, cache and app data is moved (and/or linked, not sure) to the ext2 partition on the SD card (which is shown to be a broken partition in Android storage settings btw, but that's fine). If any, only <1KB of file size per app remains in internal storage, which seems great!
I am currently waiting for my ordered 256GB SD card (U3, A2) to arrive next week, then I will do the full port from the old to the new A3 and I'll see how WhatsApp and Spotify behave being stored in external storage. Hopefully Link2SD is able to shift them, especially WhatsApp, since that was the main factor in cluttering the internal storage very fast and efficient.
If the Link2SD doesn't work for WhatsApp media, I'll give FolderMount a try, the direct mount then seems to work for many.
Since you mentioned it: What are the great features of Knox? The secure folder? Data encryption by screen lock? I can't remember using Knox features knowingly in the past three years. Is Knox not already blown by flashing a custom recovery?
Thanks for your help!
Flo
The internal storage data partition not mounting in TWRP is due to the partition being encypted when Android is booted, but also due to quota being enabled and latest version of TWRP for this phone (3.2.3-0 AFAIK) being unable to mount this. Fix for this is to flash a zip from Zackptg5 which disables both these options. See https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...y-a3-sm-a320f-fl-y-2017.3562302/post-79260952 for full details
I see that OrangeFox is available now (https://orangefox.download/device/a3y17lte), so maybe this is able to mount without these problems, I am going to flash this soon so I will let you know!
FYI I am using H-ROM by Astrako. Very close to stock (it is a port from the A7) and seems to work well. VoWiFI is working in this ROM which was essential for me.
lastsaskatchewanpirate said:
The internal storage data partition not mounting in TWRP is due to the partition being encypted when Android is booted, but also due to quota being enabled and latest version of TWRP for this phone (3.2.3-0 AFAIK) being unable to mount this. Fix for this is to flash a zip from Zackptg5 which disables both these options. See https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...y-a3-sm-a320f-fl-y-2017.3562302/post-79260952 for full details
I see that OrangeFox is available now (https://orangefox.download/device/a3y17lte), so maybe this is able to mount without these problems, I am going to flash this soon so I will let you know!
FYI I am using H-ROM by Astrako. Very close to stock (it is a port from the A7) and seems to work well. VoWiFI is working in this ROM which was essential for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did “orange fox” work?
King p1n said:
Did “orange fox” work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, with OrangeFox I didn't need to flash the zip file from Zackptg5 which removes quota. I didn't get on with the latest H-ROM 6.0 (too many niggles, particularly ambient light sensor doesn't work so no adaptive brightness; fingerprint scanner doesn't work in apps; video call doesn't work in WhatsApp), but OrangeFox worked really well, definitely recommend it. Sorry for not remembering to come back and update sooner!
lastsaskatchewanpirate said:
Yes, with OrangeFox I didn't need to flash the zip file from Zackptg5 which removes quota. I didn't get on with the latest H-ROM 6.0 (too many niggles, particularly ambient light sensor doesn't work so no adaptive brightness; fingerprint scanner doesn't work in apps; video call doesn't work in WhatsApp), but OrangeFox worked really well, definitely recommend it. Sorry for not remembering to come back and update sooner!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
Which rom do you use and recommend?
Or can orange fox be used with the stock rom?
Doing this on behalf on a friend who is struggling with storage issues, been years since I’ve touched android
King p1n said:
Thank you
Which rom do you use and recommend?
Or can orange fox be used with the stock rom?
Doing this on behalf on a friend who is struggling with storage issues, been years since I’ve touched android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently I use H-ROM 2.0 (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...7-port-v2-0-pie-oneui-64-bits-treble.3940532/) which works well. Only two main niggles that I might change back to stock - video doesn't work in WhatsApp (but is OK in WhatsApp Business) and some VoWiFi calls have echo, but this might just be normal for VoWiFi, not had echo on normal cell network calls. Stock ROM is now available with Android 8 (Oreo) so when I have time I was intending to try that again, maybe with debloat to remove some of the stock apps.
I would recommend OrangeFox, and although I started with TWRP and flashed this over the top, I think you should be OK to just flash this straight from Odin. TWRP would only flash in old version of Odin, I would guess OrangeFox maybe would be the same. Flash in AP using older version Odin3 v3.12.10. Untick auto reboot, when complete power off with vol down + power, then force to recovery using volume up, home and power
lastsaskatchewanpirate said:
Currently I use H-ROM 2.0 (https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...7-port-v2-0-pie-oneui-64-bits-treble.3940532/) which works well. Only two main niggles that I might change back to stock - video doesn't work in WhatsApp (but is OK in WhatsApp Business) and some VoWiFi calls have echo, but this might just be normal for VoWiFi, not had echo on normal cell network calls. Stock ROM is now available with Android 8 (Oreo) so when I have time I was intending to try that again, maybe with debloat to remove some of the stock apps.
I would recommend OrangeFox, and although I started with TWRP and flashed this over the top, I think you should be OK to just flash this straight from Odin. TWRP would only flash in old version of Odin, I would guess OrangeFox maybe would be the same. Flash in AP using older version Odin3 v3.12.10. Untick auto reboot, when complete power off with vol down + power, then force to recovery using volume up, home and power
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just to clarify I could use Orange fox with stock rom and enable adopted storage? So I can use SD for apps when necessary.
I did get adopted storage working of sorts, but certain screens were missing from storage in the setting menu (I think Samsung didn't include or removed these as the phone was not intended to work with Adopted Storage), so it would crash when trying to perform certain actions. I can't actually remember now if you could move apps to the Adopted Storage using the standard system menus, it was so flakey that I stopped using that and switched to using Link2SD (which I had already used before so had a Plus license for) and this does exactly what I needed. These are the steps I used to get Link2SD working: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-1-6-link2sd.919326/post-82757807. I don't think you need the Plus version, but it doesn't cost much, removes the ads and lets you move a few more files. Hope that helps

Categories

Resources