What is “Other” in Xiaomi’s storage and how to clean it

Users of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a nasty situation: the device’s internal memory suddenly overflows, and the system insists on asking for space. When you try a detailed analysis in the standard Security or Explorer app, it turns out that the lion’s share of gigabytes falls on a mysterious partition designated as “Other”, which often takes from 5 to 20 GB, and sometimes more, which critically affects the performance of the MIUI or HyperOS operating system.

Many people mistakenly think it's a system failure or a virus, but it's actually much more prosaic. This is where the operating system puts all the files that it can't uniquely classify as images, videos, music or documents, and it includes messenger cache, temporary update files, remnants of remote applications and system process logs, and understanding the structure of this partition is the first step to managing your gadget's memory properly without losing important data.

In this article, we will take a closer look at what the Other category is really made of, why it is growing to giant sizes, and most importantly, how to safely clean this section. We will look at both Xiaomi’s regular shell tools and more advanced methods available to the average user. You will learn to distinguish the important system cache from digital garbage, which only slows down the smartphone.

The Anatomy of the Other: What’s Hiding There

To effectively combat memory overflow, it is necessary to clearly understand what data is hidden under the mask of “Other”. The Android system on which Xiaomi works, does not always correctly read the types of files, especially if they were created by third-party applications in a non-standard way, as a result, even ordinary photos saved by the external folders of messengers can be the system as unknown data.

The bulk of this partition is usually temporary files and cache. When you watch videos in your browser, flip through social media feeds or play online games, the device stores a lot of intermediate data to speed up work. Over time, this cache stops updating, but it is not deleted automatically, taking up precious gigabytes. Also, error logs, crash reports and backups, which are created automatically but forgotten by the user.

Special attention should be paid to files left after deleting applications. When uninstallation programs often leave behind folders with settings or downloaded content. The system sees orphan files (orphaned files), does not understand their identity, and puts them in the general pile of “Other”, this is especially true for heavy applications like Telegram, Instagram or navigators, which store maps and media files in their own directories.

• 📦 Cache of applications: temporary data for fast downloading content in social networks and browsers.
• 🗑️ Residual files: folders and configurations of remote programs that were not erased during uninstallation.
• 📝 System logs: reports about the operation of the system, which are created for debugging, but rarely needed by the average user.
• 📥 Uploaded files: documents, APK-files and archives that the system failed to recognize as a particular type of media.

⚠️ Note: Not all content in the Other section is garbage, it may store important offline map data or work application cache, and blindly cleaning through root-enabled file managers can cause malfunctions in programs.

Importantly, new versions of the HyperOS shell have improved categorization algorithms, but the problem has not gone away.The system still tends to be hedging and assigning unknown formats to hidden sections. Therefore, manual control and periodic memory revision remain relevant for owners of Xiaomi smartphones with any amount of built-in storage.

Why does memory fill up so quickly?

The phenomenon of rapid growth of the Other section often confuses users: 10 GB was just free, and an hour later the system writes about the lack of space. The main reason lies in the aggressive policy of modern data collection applications. Social networks and messengers cache everything from thumbnails viewed to heavy video files that you did not even save explicitly. On Redmi and POCO smartphones with a storage capacity of 64 or 128 GB, this becomes a critical factor.

Another reason is the fragmentation of the file system and the peculiarities of Android. When you actively install and delete games, especially heavy ones, with a data volume of several gigabytes, the disk forms "voids" and scattered pieces of data, the system marks them as busy, but can not use them effectively, enrolling in the "Other" section, and this is also affected by automatic updates of the system and applications, which can leave old versions of installers or temporary unpacking files.

And the user factor, too, is not to be discounted. Many people forget that incognito in the browser or watching high-resolution video without downloading it still leaves a trace in the cache. If you're a navigation user, offline maps can occupy a significant portion of that partition. On devices with low RAM, the system also uses internal memory more actively as virtual memory, which is also reflected in statistics.

⚠️ Note: If the "Other" section has grown to 30-40 GB in one day, it could be a sign of a malfunction of a particular application that writes logs uncontrollably, or a viral activity.

Multimedia content plays a special role. RAW, 4K and HDR images taken on Xiaomi’s camera can be processed by AI algorithms, creating additional temporary copies to improve quality. These copies are often not deleted after processing is complete and fall into the category of unidentified files, inflating the statistical report.

Cleaning with MIUI and HyperOS facilities

The first thing to do when you don't have enough space is to have built-in optimization tools. Xiaomi has built-in basic cleaning tools that are safe for system stability. The standard Security app has a Cleanup module that scans the device for obvious debris. However, to get to the bottom layers of the Other section, you need to use advanced features.

Go to the storage settings via the Settings menu → About Phone → Memory or through the Security app → Cleanup. The system will prompt you to delete the cache, but often this is not enough. A more effective method is to use the Deep Clean feature. This tool analyzes the contents of application folders and suggests removing large files, duplicates and, importantly, data from the Other section that it can identify as safe to delete.

To fine-tune the app management menu, go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Select a “heavy” app (like a browser or social network), then click Memory and select Clear Cache. It’s important not to confuse this with the “Clean All” button, which will reset the app to factory settings and delete your logins and data. Regularly cleaning the cache of the most voluminous applications allows you to keep the “Other” section in check.

It's worth noting that the regular tools don't always see everything. MIUI algorithms can ignore some file types as system files. So after automatic cleaning, it's recommended to reboot the device. In the process of rebooting, the system recalculates the file indices and can free up some more space that was listed as occupied but was actually free.

Manual cleaning through Explorer and File Management

If automatic tools don't work, you'll have to manually clean, which requires more care, but it does better. The File Manager app, which is built in, allows you to see the real folder structure, and we're interested in Android/data and Android/obb folders, and the root folders of frequently used applications.

The Android/data folder stores app data. You can find messenger folders (e.g. com.whatsapp or org.telegram.messenger) that often contain cache or temp folders that can be easily deleted. But beware: removing files from non-cache folders can lead to loss of progress in games or program settings. Always check what you delete.

Also worth paying attention to is the Download folder. Often users forget about downloaded installers. APK, PDF-These files often have strange names and end up in "The Other." Sort files by size and date to quickly find "heavyweights».

And there's even more opportunities for advanced users who have connected their phone to their computer. USB-File Transfer mode allows you to audit content more conveniently with the keyboard and mouse, and it also allows you to back up important but incomprehensible files before deleting them.

⚠️ Warning: Never delete files with the.xml or.db extension from system folders unless you are sure of their purpose. These are configuration files and databases, the violation of the integrity of which can lead to a “boot” (cyclical reboot) of a smartphone.

Analysis of storage using third-party snails

When Xiaomi's regular tools stop giving an objective picture, specialized analytics apps come to the rescue. They visualize the storage, showing which files occupy the most space. One of the most popular and secure solutions is the Files by Google or DiskUsage app, and they build a memory card where the square size corresponds to the file size.

Using these tools, you can instantly find hidden memory eaters. Often, the Other section contains a forgotten high-resolution movie that has been downloaded into a video player cache, or a database backup that takes up several gigabytes. Third-party applications often have smarter algorithms for detecting duplicates and similar files than the standard MIUI analyzer.

When working with third-party software, it is important to provide only the necessary permissions. For analysis, you need to access files. You should not give full administrator rights to unfamiliar programs. After analysis and cleaning, it is better to close or remove such applications so that they do not consume resources in the background.

Below is a table comparing popular cleaning methods:

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Use Files by Google to find duplicates. It often finds the same videos and photos that have been saved multiple times from different messengers, which significantly frees up space in the “Other” section.

Radical measures: Resetting and reflashing

If none of the softer methods worked, and the Other continues to grow to a critical volume, perhaps the file system has accumulated unavoidable errors, in which case the most effective, albeit time-consuming, solution is to completely reset the data to factory settings, which is guaranteed to clear the Other section as it will be recreated from scratch.

Before you do this, make sure to back up all your important data. Use Mi Cloud or Google Drive cloud services, as well as local copying on your PC. Once reset, the phone will be as new as possible, and the Other category will occupy the minimum amount necessary to run the system.

In some cases, flashing the device through the computer using the Mi Flash Tool helps. This reinstalls the operating system itself, fixing the disk markup errors. However, this is a procedure for advanced users, since an error in the process can turn a smartphone into a “brick.” For most users, a simple reset through the settings menu is enough.

Path to reset: Settings → Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. The device will reboot and the process will take 5 to 15 minutes. Once turned on, you will get a clean system without excess luggage.

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Full reset is the only way to guarantee 100% cleansing of the Other partition if it has grown due to file system errors, not just cache.

Prevention of memory overflow

To prevent the problem from returning regularly, you should change your smartphone usage habits, first set up automatic cache cleaning in the apps themselves, for example, on Telegram you can set the cache autodelete after 3 days or a week, which will prevent the accumulation of gigabytes of watched videos.

Regularly, at least once a month, review the Downloads folder and delete unnecessary files. Don't store files on your device that you don't need right now - transfer them to your computer or to the cloud. Today's Xiaomi smartphones sync perfectly with your PC, making this process fast.

Also, keep an eye out for system updates. Newer versions of MIUI and HyperOS often fix bugs associated with memory leaks and incorrect counting of free space.

Use memory cards (if the model supports), but only store media files (photos, videos, music) and apps and their data are better stored in internal memory for speed, but clean their cache regularly.