If you happen to be trying to download the appropriate Samsung official ROM for your phone and you will now start flashing it with Odin, once you extract the contents of the stock ROM file that you downloaded, you will get a set of the usual files including AP, BL, CP and they are the system file itself, Bootloader file, and modem file for mobile networks. Finally, there are two additional files: CSC and HOME_CSC, which usually have the .tar.md5 extension. A Samsung user who does this for the first time is often distracted and confused and does not know which files to choose while installing official software for a Galaxy device. However, before you know what to choose, you must know the difference between them in order for your decision to be correct.
What is the CSC file in Samsung ROM?
CSC and HOME_CSC are important parts of the official Samsung software, but they are used in different ways. Name CSC here is the acronym for Country Sapecific Code, which refers here to its telecommunications company (if it’s closed on a particular network), and it also refers to the prompt her phone state. The differences in CSC files here will control several aspects of the system that you install on your phone now and include how the phone will receive future system updates, as well as the ability to use some services dedicated to specific regions other than others. And while this information is often not needed in your daily and normal use of the phone, it is nonetheless some important things to know how your smartphone system works.
CSC or HOME_CSC: Which should I choose?
Downloading the official “full” Samsung software as mentioned above will give you 5 different files with MD5 extension. These files will be as follows:
- AP: This is the OS itself, so it will probably be the largest of them.
- BL: It refers to bootloader and is responsible for connecting the internal hardware to the software.
- CP: It is the modem file for the telecom networks definitions, as well as for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
- And finally CSC and also HOME_CSC files which is the ones we’re talking about today.
Returning again to the main topic of the lesson, CSC and HOME_CSC are necessary parts of the official Samsung ROMs and choosing them here will depend on different purposes, and if you must choose one of them while flashing the factory ROM using Odin it will also depend on you, meaning that there is no Wrong file and the other is correct here. So, here is the difference between them:
CSC
If you choose CSC file in CSC field in Odin, during the installation of stock ROM, this file will be format your device’s storage and return it to factory settings if you want a clean installation without any old files at all, and this includes of course all the current phone contents from pictures or video, contacts, etc. So, in short, choose this file if you want to restore your device to its state when you removed it from the box for the first time.
HOME_CSC
If you choose HOME_CSC on the other hand, it will keep all the contents of the current phone memory, as it will replace the current system files only, and it will not do a format like CSC file in the previous paragraph. While we recommend that you always choose the CSC file while installing the official ROM in order to get the best possible performance in your new device software, HOME_CSC file option is good in case you want to preserve your files and do not want to restore the factory settings.
Conclusion
Finally, as a summary of all the information mentioned above, if you want to install an full official ROM on your Samsung phone and also want to have a stable system experience without anything related to the old one, then choose CSC file in this case.
On the other hand, if you are installing a minor update, for example, or a small OTA update such as a new security patch, HOME_CSC file then will tell Odin to leave all your files as they are without prejudice or delete any of them. So, here you need to make your decision while installing your phone’s official software whether the CSC or HOME_CSC.