How to copy all data from Android to Xiaomi Redmi

Changing your smartphone, especially to a new Xiaomi or Redmi model, is always accompanied by a pleasant anticipation of familiarity with the device, but this process overshadows the need to transfer information. Users are often afraid of losing important contacts, correspondence history or photos taken over the years. Fortunately, the Android ecosystem provides many tools for migration, which make this process as automated and secure as possible.

There are several proven ways, each with its own advantages depending on the amount of information being transferred and the speed of your Internet connection. Mi and Poco device owners have access to unique system utilities that often run faster than Google's standard tools. We'll take a look at all the current methods so you can choose the most suitable for your situation.

Before starting the procedure, make sure that both devices are at least 50-60% charged, as active transmission of large amounts of data can significantly consume battery power. Also check the availability of free space on the new device, so that the process does not interrupt halfway due to overflow of memory. Prepare a Wi-Fi network with a good signal if you plan to use cloud services.

Using the Mi Mover app for quick migration

The most effective and native solution for owners of Xiaomi equipment is the use of a pre-installed application Mi Mover. This tool is designed specifically for work in conjunction with the shell MIUI and HyperOS, which allows you to transfer not only multimedia, but also system settings, desktop layouts and even passwords from Wi-Fi networks. The application is available in Google Play for any Android device, which makes it a universal solution when switching from any phone.

The process starts from the new smartphone, where you select the "I am the recipient" option, while the old device selects the "I am the sender" role. QR-Once connected, the system will prompt you to select categories of data to copy, including contacts, messages, gallery and installed applications.

⚠️ Warning: During the operation of Mi Mover, the smartphone screen may go out, but it is strictly not recommended to interrupt the process or switch to other applications, as this can lead to file damage.

The feature of the method is the ability to selectively transfer, which is convenient if you want to start using a new phone from a “clean sheet”, saving only the most important thing. The algorithm of the utility is optimized to minimize the load on the processor, but when transferring terabytes of data, the latency can vary from a few minutes to an hour.

Synchronization through Google account

The classic method that remains relevant for all Android users is to use Google’s cloud profile. When you first set up a new Redmi or Xiaomi, the system will prompt you to log in to your account, then automatically start downloading contacts, calendar events, notes and passwords stored in Google Smart Lock, which is ideal for restoring the basic functionality of the phone without user intervention.

For photos and videos, Google Photos is used, which must be pre-activated on the old device by enabling Autoboot and Sync. Once all media files are displayed in the cloud with the sign "Synced", just log in to the same account on the new device, and the entire gallery will be available in its original quality, this eliminates the need to search for cables or create local networks.

• 📱 Contacts and calendar are restored instantly after entering the login and password.
• ☁️ Google Photos securely stores archives in the cloud.
• 🔒 Passwords and autocomplete data are pulled up from Google’s password manager.
• 📲 The list of installed applications will be saved and can be downloaded (in one click).

It’s important to understand that free space on Google is limited to 15GB, so users with a lot of data may need to expand storage or selective synchronization, and it requires a stable and fast Internet connection, which can be problematic with a slow mobile connection.

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Check if sync is enabled for all the right items in your Google account settings on your old phone before you start the transfer.

Manual copying through USB-cable

The most reliable way to transfer really heavy files, such as videos to 4K Or huge archives of documents, you have a direct connection to your computer, and this is a method that allows you to control every byte of information, and it doesn't depend on the speed of the wireless networks or the state of the cloud servers. USB-cable, preferably original or certified, supporting high data rates.

Once you connect your old phone to your PC, select the USB mode "File Transfer" or "MTP" in the notifications. Once you open the device folder in your computer's Explorer, copy the required directories, such as DCIM, Pictures, Download and Documents, to your hard drive. Then the same procedure is repeated with the new Xiaomi phone, where the data is simply moved to the corresponding folders.

Recommended folder structure for proper gallery operation:


/DCIM/Camera - for camera and video




/Pictures - for screenshots and images from messengers




/Download - for downloaded files

The advantage of this approach is that you can create a full backup on an external medium before you start any manipulation of the new device, which creates an additional layer of security: even if something goes wrong during the setup of the new phone, your data will remain intact on the computer.

Transfer of messages and call history

One of the most delicate tasks when changing a phone is to save the history of SMS and call log, as standard sync Google often ignores this data or requires the inclusion of specific settings. For a full backup of messages, it is best to use specialized utilities such as SMS Backup & Restore, which create a complete archive of correspondence and allow you to deploy it on a new device.

When using Mi Mover, call history and SMS are usually transferred automatically if you have given permission to start the process, but in some cases, especially when switching from heavily modified Android builds from other manufacturers, database format conflicts may occur, which may result in messages not appearing in the standard application.

⚠️ Note: Messenger apps like WhatsApp, Telegram or Viber have their own backup mechanisms that are not always integrated into system data portability.

For WhatsApp, it is critical to back up chats in Google Drive through the app’s settings before switching to a new phone, and when the app first runs on the new Redmi, it will find a backup and suggest restoring your correspondence history, including media files, if they were included in the backup.

Work with memory and file system MIUI

File shell system MIUI It has some organizational features that you should consider when you're manually copying. Unlike standard Android, some system folders can be hidden or have changed paths. MIUI/sound_recorder, Not in a standard sound folder.

When transferring data, it is important not to disrupt the directory structure, otherwise applications may stop seeing their files. If you copy data through a computer, make sure that folders are created at the root of the internal drive, and not inside system partitions that are restricted by superuser rights.

• 📂 folder Android/data contains a cache of applications, its transfer is often useless.
• 🎵 Music and ringtones are best placed in the Music or Ringtones folder.
• 📥 Files from browsers are usually in the Download folder.

Owners of Xiaomi’s new models with fast memory UFS 3.1 or UFS 4.0 may notice that copying large numbers of small files takes longer than it does, due to the way the memory controller works when writing many small blocks of data.

Solving and completing the setup

After the copying process is completed, it is recommended not to immediately start active operation, but to give the system a few minutes to background index files and optimize applications. At this time, the phone can heat up slightly - this is the normal operation of the processor, which distributes data to memory cells and adjusts the operation of programs for new hardware.

If you notice that some apps don’t open or aren’t working properly, try updating them via Google Play or GetApps. Sometimes versions of programs installed on an older device may not be fully compatible with the new version of Android or the shell installed on Xiaomi.

A critical step is to check the operation of two-factor authentication in banking applications and important services, as when changing devices, security tokens are often reset.

The final step will be the setting of biometrics, PIN-Now that all the data is in place, you can take full advantage of the capabilities of your new smartphone.

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The ideal portability scenario is a combination of Mi Mover for applications and settings, plus manually checking mission-critical data (photos, documents) through the cloud or PC.