May 2019 Update, increases storage requirement---- clarification?

I have a detailed document, much of it above my head, with the hardware requirements for the May update showing it to have been increased to 32 GB, and more for the 64bit OS. There are certain things important to those of us with 2-in-1 small storage Tablet PCs which are not clear (to me at least).

Nowhere does it seem to say if this refers to the amount of storage which is free / unused / unoccupied. If not there will be problems. Many of these devices only have 32 GB total to start with (actually less). My 64 bit machine after vigorous cleaning / slimming only has a little above 10 GB free at any time. But that refers to the system C drive. Are external drives counted, with their storage? If not and if what is referred to is the free storage available, what happens to the files which are in place when updating is attempted?

I know there is discussion of this issue elsewhere, mainly related to the effects of the new requirement for Reserve storage, but I am not sure what the answers to these basic points are.

clayto said:

...I know there is discussion of this issue elsewhere....

Here? Minimum storage requirement increases for Windows 10 May 2019 Update - Windows 10 Forums

If you follow the 'Source:' link in post #1 and read the full document you will see it says near the beginning....

The goal of this specification is to enable OEMs, ODMs, SoC vendors, and other component vendors to make early design decisions for devices and computers that will run Windows 10.

Minimum hardware requirements | Microsoft Docs


...so the minimum sizes in the table refer to the minimum drive size that must be used when designing a machine to run 1903. It means the total capacity of the drive, not the available free space.

Right, that is now clear to me. I saw that the document I referred to dealt with what manufacturers have to do but it was not obvious that some of it did not also relate to users. I am a pessimist who tends to fear the worst, namely the welcome moves to help small storage device users might be going into reverse.

clayto said:

Right, that is now clear to me. I saw that the document I referred to dealt with what manufacturers have to do but it was not obvious that some of it did not also relate to users. I am a pessimist who tends to fear the worst, namely the welcome moves to help small storage device users might be going into reverse.

I really think everybody with tablet (Like ME) with small drives, needs to keep it lean and trim. Before performing a feature updates, make sure all temporary storage is cleaned up, no residual OS Updates are laying around, etc. My system right now is less than 16gb in size. So 32gb should be no problem.