As I do not want to put freemangordons view in question at all, I also have to say, that HAM sometimes does not do what you want it/him/her to do (besides its slowlyness).
Last time I wanted to upgrade to PR1.3.1 and HAM did not let me (message: "to less free space ...." with over 25MB free on rootFS).
I took a deep breath and let FAM do the work. Done.

But in general you should follow freemangordons advice!