[Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite Questions & Answers] i5lee8bit:
TL;DR - I found a procedure to system / firmware update stock rooted, without needing to wipe data. Would people find a sort of noob-friendly guide useful? Reading up on other posts through the history of this subforum seem to be filled with misinformation that updating firmware on stock rooted = you will need to wipe no matter what...

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Hey guys, so I got a really reaaaallly good deal on the Galaxy Tab S6 (NON-Lite), and the nicer variant (256gb storage / 8gb RAM). Combining with 10% rakuten cash back, student discount, referral discount, and a slightly unethical "trick", I essentially bought it straight from the Samsung store for ~$280-$290-ish when all is said and done. :D

So anyway, seeing as how there's no original / non-stock Android development for the Galaxy Tab S6, I decided to mess around with the stock ROM for our device, the Tab S6 Lite. From the ~2 months I've owned this tablet, I've only used LineageOS. I only ever was in the stock ROM to unlock the bootloader. Literally less than an hour messing with the stock system. So my experience with stock was somewhat limited obviously.

Having read these forums before I bought the S6 Lite, and even now whilst doing research about stock ROM, it seems that the general consensus is that THERE IS NO WAY TO UPDATE THE STOCK ROOTED ROM WITHOUT WIPING DATA. That info was from several months ago, but it still seems that no one has explicitly stated that it actually is indeed possible? Now, I know that when you initially root, you will have to factory reset / wipe data. Also when you unlock bootloader. However, I've seen many posts saying that just to do an OTA update (obviously via Odin, as system update is disabled after root), you are SOL and will need to wipe data again.

Like I said, I have a Galaxy Tab S6 on the way, which only has stock-based ROM's. I'm not even going to use any custom ROM's and will instead go full stock + Magisk, just like I do with my daily driver phones. No TWRP either, encryption left default enabled. Actually, since the HTC U12+, I prefer going stock and no TWRP, relying on adb / fastboot (and in this case, Odin). Magisk and EdXposed bridge all the gaps I need in terms of mods, and I can't beat the stability and retention of all OEM features (as much as I hate Touchwiz... I don't care if it's called OneUI now lol). I figured I would play around with the Tab S6 Lite in order to get used to how I'll be operating with the Tab S6. My last Samsung device was the Galaxy S5 (phone, not tablet. "KLTE" model), and that feels like long AF ago.

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So anyway, back to the Tab S6 Lite - I was messing around with the stock firmware and found that you can indeed install firmware / system updates via Odin on stock rooted ROM, without the need to wipe data. But a lot of old posts, and even newer posts, seem to claim that you will have to factory reset / wipe again in order to update your firmware if you're rooted. Ain't nobody got time fo dat!! Well, I was able to update, without losing data and keeping root, and tested it by updating thru 2 different firmware levels (09-2020 -> 10-2020 -> 12-2020). Just needed to do things in a pretty specific order, but each time Odin flashed the new firmware, the next boot said "Optimizing Apps" or whatever, and I was updated to the new firmware / system update without losing data.

Again, no TWRP, no flashing special verity / vbmeta / etc packages. Just bone stock, Magisk-rooted. Like taking regular system OTA (the tablet being updated itself), but doing it manually with manual steps required.

Hopefully, assuming this will also work with the Galaxy Tab S6, this makes me much more confident that I can have a nice and smooth experience when I get the new tablet in.

So - my big question, especially to those who are more involved and/or have been around this subforum for more than me - were you guys already aware that it's indeed possible to system / firmware update while rooted on stock WITHOUT wiping data? If not (or even if you did), would you guys find a more noob-friendly guide to be useful or helpful? I just find it very strange that the possibility has been so far dismissed. Wiping data every time you need to update sucks!!

I'd love to hear some feedback... I also posted the bootloader splash warning removal guide over in the Guides subforum, and see a decent number of people have downloaded, but the thread has received no feedback whatsoever. I'm not sure if anybody is actually interested or if it would be worth my time sharing another guide. Anyway, thanks all and stay safe.

EDIT: I just downgraded back to 09-2020 firmware. I'm going to try setting up the tablet in its entirety this time before updating the firmware (last time, I didn't bother signing in and installing my apps and stuff since I was just testing and expecting to bootloop / softbrick at some point). Going to do each release sequentially again. But it's getting late and gonna go to bed for now. Still has another 100+ apps to install anyway, lol.

EDIT 2: Yup, all went good. Magisk 21.4 + EdXposed 5.2.1, a bunch of modules, etc. System updates went perfectly smoothly with no need to wipe. SafetyNet passing, etc.