Owners of Xiaomi smartphones, especially popular models like the Redmi Note 8 Pro, often face a mysterious problem: the memory of the device is crowded, and in the standard analyzer the lion’s share is allocated to the category “Other”. This partition can take up tens of gigabytes, which is critical for a device with a basic amount of internal memory. MIUI Classify here everything that does not fall into the standard categories: photos, videos, apps or music.
This data is gradually and unobtrusively accumulated by the user, which can be temporary messenger files, remnants of deleted programs, cache of system services, or even fragments of system updates. Cleaning the “Other” section on the Redmi Note 8 Pro is not just garbage removal, but often the only way to return the phone to normal speed and the ability to install new applications.
In this article, we will discuss safe and effective ways to free up space. You will learn where hidden files hide, how to use embedded MIUI tools and third-party utilities, and when to resort to radical measures. The Other section on Redmi Note 8 Pro is often inflated due to debugging logs and Telegram/WhatsApp cache, which are not deleted by standard cleaning.
Reasons for the growth of the “Other” section in MIUI
To effectively combat memory overflow, you need to understand the nature of the data. In the Android operating system, on top of which the MIUI shell runs, the category “Other” (or “System Files”) is a kind of “black box”: this includes data that the file manager cannot uniquely identify as media or documents.
Often the culprits are social networks and messengers. Telegram and WhatsApp store the received files in their internal folders, which the system sees as an unknown format. In addition, when you install and remove games or heavy applications often, the system remains “tails” – folders with configurations that take up space but do not bring any benefit.
⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from Android system folders and MIUI manually through file managers if they are not sure of their purpose, this can lead to incorrect interface operation or loss of application data.
Another reason is the map cache and navigation, and if you use Yandex.Navigator or Google Maps with offline maps, they can take up several gigabytes, and they also get error logs and crash reports that the Redmi Note 8 Pro collects to send to developers, but often stores locally.
Use of the built-in "Security" application
The first and safest step for the owner of Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro should be the use of standard optimization tools. Xiaomi has implemented a powerful set of utilities in MIUI, accessed through the application “Security” (green icon with a shield).
Launch the app and select Cleanup. The system will scan and suggest removing obvious debris: advertising files, remnants of deleted applications and temporary data. However, for a deep cleaning of the Other section, this may not be enough. Click on the Garbage icon or go to the cleaner settings to activate a deeper search.
Inside the cleaning menu, find Deep Clean or Storage Analysis, where MIUI will try to categorize the files in the Other section. Often you can find large files left by applications or duplicate documents. Be careful when choosing objects to delete.
☑️ Checklist of quick cleaning through "Safety»
It is important to note that a standard cleaner does not always see the messenger cache, as it considers it important data, so if the "Other" section has decreased slightly after the procedure, manual intervention or the use of specialized tools will be required.
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Periodically run Deep Clean immediately after restarting your phone – at this point the system cache is minimal and the analyzer works more accurately.
Manual cleaning through “Conductor” and file management
If automatic tools don't work, you'll need to use manual file system analysis to do this, and the Redmi Note 8 Pro has a standard Explorer built in. Go to the storage settings via Settings → About Phone → Memory to see the visualization of the occupied space.
Click on Documents or Other if it is available for detail. App names can often be found inside. Pay special attention to Android/data and Android/obb folders. Games and programs cache files are stored here. Deleting the contents of the folder with the name of the remote application is safe, but deleting the active program folders will result in resetting their settings or losing progress.
Also check the root directory for forgotten files. APK-file, PDF-documents or archives that are then forgotten to be deleted, and they automatically end up in the Other because they are not media files.
⚠️ Note: When manually cleaning folders Android/obb Make sure you don’t delete data for the games you plan to play.Deleting files from obb will require re-loading game resources the next time you run.
For more advanced search, you can use file sorting by size. In Explorer, select Size Sort and look at the largest files. Often, the Other is one forgotten movie or archive in the root folder.
Cleaning the cache of messengers and social networks
The main source of debris in the Other category on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro are messengers. Telegram, Viber and WhatsApp store all received media files, even if you have already viewed them. Standard deletion of chat does not always clear the physical file from the device's memory.
In Telegram, the cleaning is done through the settings of the application itself. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you will see the cache volume. Pressing the “Clear Cache” button will safely delete temporary files, but leave your correspondence intact. It is also recommended to install automatic cache cleanup, for example, every 3 days.
WhatsApp has a slightly different procedure. In the app settings, go to Data and Storage → Storage Management, where you can see which chats are taking up the most space, and remove attachments selectively, which is more effective than a complete cleanup, because it allows you to save important documents.
| Annex | The path to cleanup | Is it safe? | Impact on data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telegram | Settings → Data and memory | Yes. | The media will be rebooted when viewed |
| Settings → Data and Storage | Yes. | Only selected investments are removed | |
| Viber | More. → Settings → Memory. | Yes. | Cleaning up media cache |
| Phone settings → Applications | Partially. | Re-entering the account is required |
Why is Telegram's cache so big?
Remember that after cleaning the messenger cache, the “Other” section should be significantly reduced, and if this does not happen, it is possible that the files are blocked by the system processes, and deeper intervention is required.
Use of third-party disk analyzers
When the built-in MIUI tools don’t give you the full picture, Google Play’s dedicated apps come to the rescue, with leaders in this field being DiskUsage, Files by Google, and CCleaner, which allow you to visualize the file system and find hidden sources of debris.
DiskUsage represents memory as a block map. The larger the block, the more space it takes up, and it instantly finds the folder that eats up gigabytes, often it turns out to be a folder with the logs of an application or a forgotten folder called.thumbnails.
Files by Google also has a Cleanup feature that is often more aggressive and smarter than the standard one. It finds screenshots you've already sent, duplicate files and long-overdue apps. Installing such an assistant on the Redmi Note 8 Pro is a great solution for constant memory monitoring.
⚠️ Warning: When using third-party cleaners, avoid the “Radiation Acceleration” features» (RAM In modern versions of Android, this is useless and even harmful, since the system itself effectively manages memory, and the constant forced unloading of applications only increases battery consumption.
Once you install the analyzer, give it permission to access all the files, scan the device and carefully study the results, delete only the one you are sure of, or files with.tmp,.log extensions in user directories.
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Third-party analyzers like DiskUsage show the real file structure that the standard MIUI hides, allowing you to find hidden sources of overflow.
Radical methods: Resetting and flashing
If neither method helped to free up space and the Other continues to occupy a critical volume (e.g., 40-50GB on a 64GB model), it is possible that the file system is damaged or there has been a system failure, in which case the last option is a complete data reset.
Before you do this, make sure to back up all your important data. On Xiaomi, you can do this through the Mi Cloud or by connecting your phone to your computer and copying the DCIM, MIUI, and Download folders. Remember, resetting will delete everything: contacts, photos, apps, and settings.
To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The phone will reboot and start the cleanup process, which takes 10 to 30 minutes. Once turned on, you will get a clean system where the Other section will occupy the minimum amount allocated for system needs.
Alternative to total dumping
In rare cases, when even a reset doesn’t help (the “Other” section is filled in instantly after turning on), the problem may be hardware or require a complete flashing of the device through the computer using the Mi Flash Tool utility.This is a complex procedure that requires unlocking the bootloader, and is recommended only for advanced users.