Xiaomi and Redmi smartphone owners often face a mysterious situation: the device’s internal memory is full, but a detailed analysis of the storage reveals that the lion’s share of the space is occupied by the “Others” category, which causes panic among users who can’t understand exactly where the gigabytes went and why the system does not show specific files. In fact, the “Others” section is a system folder where temporary data, application cache, remnants of remote programs and logs of the MIUI or HyperOS operating system accumulate.
Ignoring this problem can lead to a significant slowdown in the gadget, since the operating system does not have enough free space to create temporary files and work normally. In this article, we will discuss in detail the nature of this data, explain why a standard analyzer does not always see its contents, and propose a step-by-step algorithm for safe cleaning without losing important information.
Nature of Category Others in the Storage
The system partition, designated as “Other” or “Other”, is generated automatically during the operation of the smartphone. The Android operating system, which runs Xiaomi devices, creates many temporary files to speed up the launch of applications and web pages. Over time, this data ceases to be relevant, but is not automatically deleted, taking up space. This partition is especially active in messengers and social networks, which cache images and videos for quick re-view.
And it also includes files that the system can't classify unequivocally, such as.apk installation packages left over from software updates, archives, documents of unknown format, or data from remote applications. Xiaomi's shell file sorting algorithms sometimes get it wrong or simply don't have time to update the storage index, sending all the dubious objects into a pile, which is why the folder can jump from a few megabytes to tens of gigabytes in size.
It's important to understand that not all content in the Others category is digital garbage, that can store important offline map data, download songs on streaming services, or save games. Blindly removing all content through the file manager can lead to loss of progress in applications or the need to re-download large amounts of data, so a differentiated cleaning approach is the only right solution to keep the system stable.
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Before you start a deep cleanup, back up important documents and photos to Mi Cloud or Google Photos cloud storage to eliminate the risk of accidental data loss.
Analysis of space using built-in tools
The first step in the battle for space should be a detailed analysis of the storage. In Xiaomi smartphones, there is a built-in Security app that contains the Cleanup tool. However, the standard mode often shows only the big picture. To get more accurate data, you need to go to the memory settings through the system settings menu, where you will see a visualization of the occupied space, where the category “Others” will be highlighted in a separate color.
If the built-in analyzer doesn't give you a detailed breakdown, you can use third-party filesystem visualization tools like Google's DiskUsage or Files, which scan all directories, including hidden ones, and build a memory card, which allows you to see which folder has swelled to a giant size, and it often turns out that the main eater is the cache folder of a particular messenger or the system log file that mistakenly entered the other section.
When analyzing, pay attention to the date of file changes. Old files that have not changed in months are likely unnecessary garbage. Modern versions of MIUI and HyperOS have a function called Accelerate, which automatically offers to delete temporary files, but it is not always effective against deep-seated residual data. Manual verification through the file manager Explorer in the mode of displaying hidden files can give a more complete picture of what is happening.
Cleaning the cache of applications and junk files
The safest and most effective way to reduce the size of the Others category is to clear the app cache. The cache is the temporary data that apps download from the internet for faster operation. Over time, this data accumulates and can take up a huge amount of space. To clean up, you need to go to Settings → Apps → All applications, select the most voluminous application (for example, Telegram, YouTube or TikTok) and click the Clear Cache button.
Cache cleaning should not be confused with data cleaning. If you choose Clear Data, the application will return to state immediately after installation, and you will lose all your settings, logins and local files. Clearing the cache is safe and does not affect personal information, it only deletes temporary files that the application can download again if necessary. Regularly conducting this procedure for social networks and browsers helps keep the volume of Other Files under control.
You should also use the built-in Cleanup tool in the Security app. Click on the Clean button to scan the device for advertising debris, residual files and large files. Xiaomi's algorithm is good enough to identify safe to remove objects. However, if the Others category is not reduced after a standard cleanup, a deeper intervention in the file system will be required.
☑️ Safe Memory Cleanup Plan
Working with Android folders and hidden data
A significant portion of Other Files is often hidden in Android/data and Android/obb system directories. These folders store app data, game cache, and messenger media. Newer versions of Android have limited access to these folders for security reasons, but file managers still allow you to view their contents. Here you can find folders with app names that take up gigabytes of space, such as card cache or offline video.
When deleting files from these directories, you need to be extremely careful. Deleting files from the obb folder can cause games to stop running and require re-loading resources. The data folder often stores correspondence and media files of messengers. Before deleting any files from here, it is strongly recommended to copy them to a computer or external drive to make sure they are useless.
⚠️ Warning: Never delete the folders themselves that contain the names of the system services or applications you use unless you are 100% sure what the data is. Deleting system files can lead to unstable interfaces or endless smartphone reboots.
Special attention should be paid to the MIUI folder at the root of internal memory, which may contain debugging logs and error reports that take up space, and check the thunderstore or xunlei folder if you used an embedded bootloader - there are often underloaded or already downloaded files that the system does not consider media files and classifies as "Other".
Using a computer for deep cleaning
When the built-in smartphone tools fail, the connection to the computer comes to the rescue. Connect the smartphone to the PC through the computer. USB-cable and select file transfer mode MTP. A computer file manager allows you to see folder structure in more detail and sort files by size, which is often impossible to do on the phone itself due to interface limitations.
You can quickly find the heaviest files on your computer by sorting the contents of internal memory by size. Often, you can find forgotten video files, memory dumps or update logs that weigh several gigabytes at the root of memory or hidden folders. Deleting such files from your computer is faster and safer, since you see the full path to the object and its real name, not just an impersonal category of “Others”.
It's also convenient to clean the.thumbnails folder through your computer (it's hidden, so you need to turn on the hidden files in Windows Explorer). This folder stores thumbnails of all the images and videos in the gallery. It can grow to huge sizes over time. Deleting the contents of this folder is safe — the system will recreate thumbnails the next time you open the gallery, but this will free up a significant space right now.
What to do if the computer can’t see the folder?
Resetting settings as a radical method
If none of these methods have helped to make room, and the Others category continues to occupy a critical amount of memory, the last and most radical method is a complete factory reset, a step that is guaranteed to remove all digital debris, file system errors and accumulated data over the years, but this will lead to the complete removal of all information from the smartphone.
Before you reset, make sure to back up all your important data, use cloud services or save it to your computer, make sure that when you reset, your phone looks like you just bought it from a store, and make sure that the Others category is minimal, taking up only the space needed to run the system and the underlying applications.
To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The process will take a few minutes, after which the device will restart. This is the most effective way to combat the garbage accumulation software errors that sometimes occur in older versions of MIUI. Once you set up your phone, re-install only the necessary applications so that the problem does not recur anytime soon.
⚠️ Warning: Before resetting, make sure the battery is charged at least 50-60%. Interrupting the reset process due to battery discharge can cause damage to the system partition and the need to flash the device through the computer.
Prevention of memory overflow
To prevent the Others category from growing back to a giant size, you need to develop a habit of regular prevention. First of all, set up automatic cache cleaning in applications that allow it. For example, on Telegram you can set a cache size limit: go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use and set a limit, for example, 1 GB. The application will delete old files, freeing up space.
Also, check the Download folder regularly, often downloading documents, pictures and files that you only needed once, automatically sorting files by folder in the file manager will help keep things in order, and avoid storing offline cards or music in your phone’s memory unless you need to, as they are often classified as “Other Files” by the system.
Timely updates to the HyperOS or MIUI operating system also play a role. In newer firmware versions, developers often optimize the work with the file system and improve memory cleaning algorithms. If you haven't updated your smartphone in a long time, check for new versions of the software in the Settings → About Phone section.
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Regular manually cleaning the cache of heavy apps and setting up autodelete temporary files in messengers prevents 90% of overflow problems in the category “Others”.
| Cleaning method | Efficiency | Risk of data loss | Recommended frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in cleaning | Low. | No. | Once a week. |
| Cleaning up the app cache | Medium | No. | Once a month |
| Delete files from Android/data | Tall. | Medium. | If necessary, |
| Full reset (Hard Reset) | Maximum | High (all data) | 1 time 1-2 years |