diff --git a/src/system.js b/src/system.js
index 6a9daf115..fda9ee84c 100644
--- a/src/system.js
+++ b/src/system.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ exports = module.exports = {
     reboot,
     getInfo,
     getUbuntuVersion,
-    getDisks,
     getSwaps,
     checkDiskSpace,
     getMemory,
@@ -16,6 +15,9 @@ exports = module.exports = {
     runSystemChecks,
     getProvider,
     getCpus,
+
+    // exported for testing
+    _getDisks: getDisks
 };
 
 const apps = require('./apps.js'),
@@ -87,6 +89,7 @@ async function getSwaps() {
     return swaps;
 }
 
+// this gets information based on mounted filesystems
 async function getDisks() {
     const [dfError, dfEntries] = await safe(df.disks());
     if (dfError) throw new BoxError(BoxError.FS_ERROR, `Error running df: ${dfError.message}`);
@@ -313,6 +316,7 @@ async function getLogs(unit, options) {
     return logStream;
 }
 
+// this gets block devices as opposed to mounted filesystems. this is used for configuring backups and volumes in the frontend
 async function getBlockDevices() {
     const result = await shell.spawn('lsblk', ['--paths', '--json', '--list', '--fs', '--output', '+rota'], { encoding: 'utf8' });
     const info = safe.JSON.parse(result);
diff --git a/src/test/system-test.js b/src/test/system-test.js
index b2034424a..b3ccda69a 100644
--- a/src/test/system-test.js
+++ b/src/test/system-test.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ describe('System', function () {
         // does not work on archlinux 8!
         if (require('child_process').execSync('uname -a').toString().indexOf('-arch') !== -1) return;
 
-        const disks = await system.getDisks();
+        const disks = await system._getDisks();
         expect(disks).to.be.ok();
         expect(Object.keys(disks).some(fs => disks[fs].mountpoint === '/')).to.be.ok();
     });