Improve and Unify System Usage to single category

Several factors contribute to the disparities in internal storage size between Settings and file manager applications:

### 1. System Partitioning

### 1. System Usage

Mobile devices employ a sophisticated partitioning scheme to allocate internal storage for various system functions and user data. The system partition, a segregated segment of storage, is exclusively reserved for system files, operating system components, and pre-installed applications. This partition remains inaccessible to users and is shielded from direct manipulation or access through file manager applications.

Mobile devices allocate internal storage for various functions, including system operations and user data. Understanding how system storage is managed sheds light on discrepancies in reported sizes:

#### Example:

Consider a mobile device with a total internal storage capacity of 64GB. Out of this capacity, the system partition may consume approximately 10-15% of the total storage, leaving the remaining space available for user data and applications. However, users may not have visibility into the exact allocation of space within the system partition, leading to discrepancies between reported storage sizes in Settings and file managers.

### 2. Reserved Space

Operating systems allocate a portion of internal storage space for essential system functions, including system updates, temporary files, cache data, and system logs. This reserved space acts as a buffer to facilitate seamless operation and ensure system stability under varying usage scenarios. However, this reserved space is not explicitly accounted for in the available storage space visible to users in file manager applications.

#### Example:

- **Partitioning**: Mobile devices use a sophisticated partitioning scheme. The system partition is reserved for system files, OS components, and pre-installed apps, inaccessible to users.

When a mobile device receives a system update, the operating system may temporarily utilize additional storage space to download and install the update files. This temporary storage consumption may not be reflected in the available storage space reported by file manager applications, leading to discrepancies in storage size display.

- **Reserved Space**: Operating systems set aside storage for critical functions like updates, temporary files, and system logs. This space isn't visible to users but ensures system stability.

### 3. File System Overhead

- **File System Overhead**: File systems incur overhead for managing structures, metadata, and journaling. While minor, it affects storage utilization and varies by file system format.

File systems impose overhead for managing file and directory structures, storing metadata, and implementing journaling mechanisms to ensure data integrity. These overhead costs, while relatively minor, contribute to the utilization of storage space and may vary depending on the file system format used by the device.

- **A/B Partitioning Devices**: Some newer Android devices utilize A/B partitioning, which involves having two separate system partitions, along with various other partitions, known as Slot A and Slot B. This setup allows seamless updates without interrupting the user experience. However, due to this nature, devices with A/B partitioning may allocate almost twice the amount of space compared to non A/B devices.

#### Example:

### Example:

In a file system such as FAT32 or NTFS, each file occupies a minimum allocation unit size, leading to potential wastage of storage space for small files. Additionally, metadata associated with each file, including file attributes and timestamps, consumes additional storage space. While these overhead costs are inherent to file system operations, they are not factored into the available storage space reported by file manager applications.

Consider a mobile device with a total storage capacity of 64GB. The system partition may consume 10-15%, leaving the rest for user data. However, users may not see this breakdown, leading to discrepancies between reported sizes.

### 4. Flawed Calculation Methods

### 2. Flawed Calculation Methods

Android devices employ flawed methods for calculating storage space utilization by system components, leading to discrepancies in reported storage sizes. These discrepancies may arise from the misattribution of storage space to system components, including erroneous categorization of user-generated files as system files.

<img src="/images/support-topics/incorrect-storage-info/Settings-Storage-Info-After.png" alt="System storage info after 5gb file push test" width="200" height="400">

### 5. Unit of Measurement Discrepancy

### 3. Unit of Measurement Discrepancy

Android's utilization of gibibytes (GiB) as a unit of measurement contrasts with smartphone manufacturers' use of gigabytes (GB) for advertising storage capacities. This discrepancy in measurement units contributes to confusion among users and may lead to an overestimation of the space occupied by the Android OS and other system files.

A mobile device advertised as having 64GB of storage capacity by the manufacturer may appear as approximately 59.6GB in the device settings due to the conversion from gibibytes to gigabytes. This discrepancy in advertised versus reported storage capacities may lead users to believe that the Android OS consumes a larger portion of storage space than it actually does.

#### Example:

For instance, in a mobile device with a storage capacity of 64GB:

- The storage capacity is represented as 51.108839 Gigabytes (GB) in decimal notation (base 10).

- The same storage capacity is represented as 48.74118709564209 Gibibytes (GiB) In binary notation (base 2).

This discrepancy in advertised versus reported storage capacities may lead users to believe that the Android OS consumes a larger portion of storage space than it actually does.

## Recommendations for Users

- **Consider System Limitations**: Recognize that the total storage capacity reported in Settings may be higher than the usable storage space visible in file manager applications due to system partitioning, reserved space, and file system overhead.