Help How to backup and re-format phone?

[alec92]

Hi guys,

I've had my Samsung Note 3 for years but recently having some issues with it so I think I'll just start again from scratch and hope this sorts out my issues. I essentially want to do the equivalent of reformatting a PC and reinstalling the OS.

A couple questions:
1) I currently have a custom firmware - the only reason is to get around the security settings of my old work (to access emails, you need to input password to unlock phone every single time). I'm not sure if my new work requires this for my emails - how do I check if this is the case or not?
2) If I don't need to get around the custom firmware for the above reason, I will go with the genuine firmware. Otherwise, I will need a custom firmware which allows me to apply a fix for the email security settings. I don't need any other custom features - I just need a firmware which is as light as possible. Suggestions?
3) I have over 1,100 contacts in my phone. I want to ensure I don't lose any. When I go to Contacts and Select "Contacts to Display" --> "Device" there are none - so I'm assuming that if I reinstall a new firmware, there are none on the device to be lost, and as long as I re-sync with Google/Samsung/Microsoft Exchange accounts, I won't lose any. Is this correct?
4) Is there anything I need to backup aside from contacts, images/videos etc?
5) My memory card is about 5 years old and sometimes plays up so I might get a new one just to be safe. What is the fastest version available, and what is the largest size you can use with a Note 3?
6) What is the process for doing a full wipe, and reinstalling a new firmware? I installed my current firmware years ago and have forgotten the process

Thanks a lot.

PS: Below are the details of my current firmware version etc:

 

[John_Hamby]

First, I assume the changes to your email security settings required root on mj7 firmwares, if it were my phone (being an international 9005 model running mj7 firmware I would just look for a clean stockish rooted mj7 based Rom in the smn9005 forums and flash it with recovery, or Odin. If none of your contacts are device contacts then yes, you should be able to restore them all by reconnecting all your accounts. Now as for backing up, if you have custom firmware already then you likely have custom recovery as well, ie twrp or philz touch, that being the case I would check to see if the original stock firmware was backed up before the custom Rom you're running now was installed, if so it's decision time. If you don't need a custom Rom for email security reasons then you could revert to stock and take an Ota update, or you can just flash a stock or stockish mj7 firmware. You can also move to a newer firmware just be sure to read all you can find about the target firmware to ensure you won't have issues with the newer modems or baseband, and be aware that it's not always easy or even possible in some cases to revert to an EARLIER fw so once you've gone forward you'll want to locate a Rom that suits your needs, or go back to stock. I don't know a whole lot about this forum but I know xda is inundated with tons of roms and info on your 9005 Note 3 and you should definitely be able to find something that not only works for your purposes but that you also like....

Best of luck!