Xiaomi’s “Other” section: what it is and how to clean it

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face a mysterious situation: the storage is crowded, although photos and apps take up very little space, the culprit usually becomes a section called “Other” (sometimes “System Data”), which can grow to tens of gigabytes. It is not a virus or a bug, but a system mechanism for accumulating temporary files that over time requires the user’s attention.

Understanding the nature of these files is key to freeing up space. MIUI and HyperOS aggressively cache data to speed up work, but don't always effectively delete it. In this article, we'll look at what's hiding in this section, why it's growing, and what safe ways to get gigabytes of free space back without deleting important data.

The nature of the system section "Other"

The system partition is a container for all files that the Android operating system cannot uniquely classify as images, videos, music or documents. The storage analysis algorithms simply sum up all the "unidentified" data and display it under this tag, which includes cached streams from messengers, remnants of remote applications, error logs and temporary update files.

The peculiarity of Xiaomi’s shell is that it creates many hidden folders to preload content. For example, if you browse through social media or watched a video in your browser, the media files are saved in the cache. For the system, it is not yet a “Photo” or “Video”, but just a set of bytes in the “Other” section. It is critical to understand that this partition can take up 30-40% of the entire memory of the device if it is ignored.

It also stores data about how system services work, whether it's offline navigation maps, assistant voice packets, or facial recognition data, and the longer you use your smartphone without being cleaned, the more junk accumulates in this category, slowing down the file system.

The main categories of files hidden in the section

To effectively combat overcrowding, you need to know the enemy in person, and the most common types of data hidden inside the "Other" section are:

• 📱 Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber store photos and videos in hidden folders, even if you did not download them to the gallery.
• 🗑️ Remnants of Remote Applications: When you delete programs through a standard menu, configuration files and empty folders are often left behind.
• 📦 Update files: After installing the new version MIUI The installation package (.zip) can remain in memory.
• 🎵 Streaming cache: Music services like Spotify or Yandex.Music cache tracks for offline listening, which the system does not always see as "Music».

The.thumbnail files are also worth noting, because these are the thumbnails of photos and videos that the gallery creates for quick display. If you have a lot of high-resolution videos, the preview folder can weigh a few gigabytes and also show up in the "Other" section.

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Use the built-in Security → Cleanup app to see a rough estimate of garbage, but don’t rely on it blindly – it often skips the apps’ deep cache.

Standard cleaning methods through Xiaomi settings

Before you resort to complex methods, try regular cleaning tools. They are safe and do not require root rights. The first step is to use the built-in optimizer. Go to the Security app and select Cleanup. The system will analyze the files and suggest removing obvious debris.

The second method is to clear the cache of specific applications. If you notice that the Other has grown after active use of the application (for example, TikTok or Instagram), go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Find a heavy application, select Memory and click Clear Cache. Do not click Clear Everything unless you want to lose your logins and settings.

It's also worth checking the download folder. Often users forget about downloads. PDF-paperwork APK Open Explorer, go to Download and sort files by size. Deleting old installers can make room instantly.

Manual cleaning through Explorer and finding hidden folders

A more advanced way is to manually review the file system, using the built-in Explorer, enable the display of hidden files in the Explorer settings (usually three dots in the corner → Settings → Show hidden files).

Notice folders with a dot at the beginning of the name, like.android or.cache, which can have gigabytes of time inside them, also check the Android/data path, which stores app data, and if you delete a game or a program, but the folder with its name is still there, you can delete it.

⚠️ Be very careful when deleting files in the folder Android/obb Deleting the wrong files can cause applications to malfunction or crash.

You can use the sorting function to find large files. In the explorer, select sorting by size and look at the size of the file. top-10 It's often the most difficult files. It's often the forgotten video files from.video messengers or archives.

Using ADB for deep cleaning of the system

For users who aren’t afraid of a computer, there’s a USB debugging (ADB) method that allows you to remove the system cache that’s not available through the phone’s interface, and you’ll need a PC, a USB cable, and the debugging enabled in the developer menu.

To enable debugging, go to Settings → About Phone and click on the MIUI Version 7 times. Then in Additional → For developers, activate Debugging via USB. Connect your phone to your PC and enter a command to clear the cache:

adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999

This command forcibly trims the cache of all applications to a minimum, and you can also use the command to delete temporary files:

adb shell rm -rf /data/local/tmp/*

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Use of the ADB-Trim-caches commands are the most effective way to clear the Other without losing personal data, but require a computer.

Table: Comparison of memory cleaning methods

To make it easier for you to choose the right method, we have compared the main methods in terms of efficiency and complexity.

As you can see from the table, manual methods provide a better balance between time and results, and relying on automatic cleaners is not a good idea, as they often work superficially.

Radical measures: Resetting and reflashing

If the Other partition is more than 50GB and does not shrink after all the manipulations, it is possible that the file system is damaged or a critical amount of system debris is accumulated.In this case, only a full reset helps.Be sure to back up through Google Drive or MI Cloud before doing this.

To reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase all data. This will put the phone back out of the box. Alternatively, a more sophisticated option is to flash through the Mi Flash Tool with a Clean All option. This is guaranteed to remove any memory storage software errors.

⚠️ Warning: Before resetting, make sure the battery is at least 60% charged. Interrupting the reset process may make it impossible to turn on the device (bootloop).

Prevention of overflow of the “Other” section

To keep the problem from coming back, change your smartphone usage habits. Check the storage regularly (once a month); set up automatic cache cleanup in messenger apps; for example, Telegram can set auto-delete the cache in 3 days or a week.

Also, try not to store files in internal memory if your phone has a memory card slot (although modern Xiaomi flagships often lack this slot).

Compliance with these simple rules will help keep your Xiaomi memory clean, ensuring system performance and no lags in the interface.

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