Storage space disappeared, cache is empty on all apps

[Garconer]

I just purchased a new unbranded tablet and my storage is disappearing. At initial boot it displayed 471gig free out of 512gig total, which is perfectly understandable. After signing in to Google account (without syncing), updating Google services (~40mb), and installing chrome (~44mb) it now displays 461gig free. I have done nothing else with the tablet. This is after 3 factory resets with the same issue. Before I did the last factory reset I transferred 12gig of files from my old tablet to the new one and it used up all available space on the 512gig drive. I have used Norton clean and several other cleanup apps but keep having the same problem. The bar graph in storage settings is accurate, but the available space row is what's going down. The used space was listed as system data when I checked it with a storage analyzer before last factory reset. The tablet is running android 9. Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated

 

[belodion]

Welcome.

Are you sure it really has as much storage as advertised?

 

[Garconer]

According to settings-> storage it displays 512 gig total, and several storage utilities said the same. I don't know another way to verify though

 

[Rukbat]

Open a terminal app and type

df

then hit Enter. (The display is easier to read in landscape mode.) The sdcard partition (or sd0 or ... usually the last line) is the amount of space you have to put apps and files on, the rest is other partitions that you can't get to (system, recovery, etc.) The total on that line is your total storage, the free amount on that line is your total free space. (The phone doesn't have to be rooted, you can uninstall the terminal app when you're done, and df doesn't write anything anywhere.)

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! For an unbranded device, I can almost guarantee you it doesn't actually have 512 GB of internal storage. Chances are that it was advertised as having 512 GB, and the system was tweaked to report it has 512 GB, but it probably only has about 16 GB or so, and if you exceed that amount, it starts to go haywire.

Also, do you know if it came with a removable SD card? If so, it could be the card that's falsely reporting 512 GB. (Counterfeit SD cards are pretty common.)

 

[Garconer]

Opened terminal as directed and it displayed ~12 gig free. Returning tablet (seller said they will refund). Going to get a Samsung like I should have in the first place.
Thanks for the help everyone! Much appreciated