The situation when a smartphone suddenly reports a lack of space is familiar to every Xiaomi owner: you delete old photos, clean contacts and (delete) unnecessary applications, but the system analyzer still shows that memory is occupied by 90%, and in the category "Other" there are gigabytes of incomprehensible data. This is not a bug or a virus, but the specific way the MIUI or HyperOS operating system works by classifying files.
The system partition is a kind of black box, where files that a standard scanner cannot uniquely identify as music, videos or images fall into the system partition. The exact size of this partition often scares users, as it can grow to tens of gigabytes, occupying almost half of the available space. Understanding the nature of these files is the first step to properly managing your device’s memory without losing important data.
In this article, we will take a closer look at what this mysterious section is really made of, why it fills up so quickly, and what safe ways to clean it are. It is important to understand that blindly deleting files through the file manager can cause app crashes, so we will only look at proven and secure optimization methods.
What's hidden in the "Other" section
First of all, you need to understand the terminology. When you see the words "Other files" in a standard application "Security" or "Conductor", the system is not referring to one particular type of data, but a collection of heterogeneous information. The app cache is the most voluminous component of this section. Social networks, messengers and streaming services save temporary data for fast downloading of content, and over time these files cease to be useful, but continue to occupy space.
The second important component is residual files. When you delete an app from your phone, it often leaves behind folders with settings, error logs, or temporary downloads. The system doesn't automatically delete them so that when you re-install the program, your settings are saved, but if you don't plan to go back to the application, that digital junk just takes up space.
⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to manually delete files from Android system folders through root rights without knowing exactly what they are intended for, which can lead to a “bricking” device or a cyclical reboot.
Also included in the “Other” section are often offline maps, downloaded music tracks from streaming services (unless they are recognized as audio files) and application databases, for example, a navigator can store maps of a city weighing several gigabytes, which the system sees as unknown data, not as maps.
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Use the built-in storage analyzer to see which apps occupy the most space in the "Other" category.-3 Your most used social media platforms.
The main reasons for the growth of data
One of the main reasons for filling the section quickly is the active use of instant messengers such as Telegram or WhatsApp. These applications are set to automatically save all received media files by default. Videos, voice messages, documents and stickers are cached on the device for instant access. Telegram cache can quietly grow to 5-10 GB per month of active communication in groups and channels.
The second factor is the work of streaming platforms: apps like YouTube, Netflix or Spotify create temporary buffers when watching videos online. If the Internet connection is unstable, the buffer size can increase, and the offline viewing feature saves content in a secure format, which the system often refers to as the “Other” section, since the user can not simply open these files through the gallery.
The third reason is the file system and the system logs, and the operating system keeps detailed logs of actions, error reports, and usage statistics, and normally these files take up little space, but if there are software failures or bugs in MIUI firmware, the logging process can get out of hand, creating giant text files.
Safe cleaning methods through settings
The easiest and safest way to free up space is to use built-in cleaning tools. In Xiaomi smartphones, the Security app is responsible for this. It can find obvious garbage, but often misses a deep cache. For deeper cleaning, go to Settings → Memory. Here, the system will provide more detailed statistics by category.
Special attention should be paid to managing the cache of individual applications. You should not use the "Clear All" button at once, you should better analyze the list. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications, select a "heavy" application (for example, TikTok or Instagram) and click Clear Cache. This action is safe: it will delete temporary files, but save your logins, passwords and correspondence.
☑️ Safe cleaning algorithm
If standard methods don't work, you can use the "Clean Up" feature in the Explorer app. Select Files, sort them by size, and carefully examine large files. Often there are forgotten WhatsApp videos or archives that can be safely deleted. Important: before deleting, make sure that the file is not system.
⚠️ Note: When clearing the messenger cache through the Android settings, you can lose the thumbnails of images saved in the chat, they will be downloaded again when you open the dialogue, which consumes traffic.
Manual cleaning through the file manager
For advanced users who want to get the most out of it, manual cleaning is available. This requires a file manager with access to hidden folders, such as Xiaomi’s standard Explorer or File Manager+. At the root of internal memory, you’re interested in Android/data and Android/obb folders. This is where the basic application data is stored.
The data folder contains user data. Inside the packet names folders (e.g. com.whatsapp or com.tencent.mm), you can find cache or temp folders. The contents can be deleted. However, be careful: removing the entire application folder can reset it to factory settings.
The file deserves special attention. MIUI It's a memory root, and it's a lot of debugging logs that accumulate inside it (debug_log) heat-mapping (thermal_log). If you're not a developer and you're not debugging the firmware, you don't need these files. Deleting them can free up a few gigabytes.
| Folder/The Way | What's inside | Can I remove it? | Risks. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android/data/[app]/cache | Temporary cache of applications | Yes. | Applications will download data again |
| DCIM/.thumbnails | Photo and video miniatures | Yes. | The gallery will open longer on the first launch |
| MIUI/debug_log | System logs for debugging | Yes. | Not (unless you're a developer) |
| Android/obb | Cash games (level data) | No. | The games will stop running, you will have to download again. |
Hidden system folders
Use of third-party utilities for analysis
When Xiaomi's built-in tools don't give you the full picture, specialized disk space analysis snails come to the rescue, and one of the most effective is DiskUsage or Storage Analyzer, which visualizes memory as a diagram, where you can immediately see which file or folder takes up the most space.
These apps allow you to see the structure of files as a map, where the square size is proportional to the file size, which helps you instantly find forgotten movies, lost archives or bloated databases, and visualization makes it much easier to find heavyweights that hide deep in directories.
When using third-party software, it is important to be careful: download apps only from the official Google Play store. Avoid "accelerators" and "cliners" with aggressive advertising, which are often the source of garbage and intrusive notifications.
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Third-party analyzers like DiskUsage show a real picture of memory occupancy, ignoring system (categories) MIUI, which allows you to find hidden large files.
Preventing overcrowding of storage
To prevent the Other problem from coming back too often, you need to implement a few good habits: First, set up automatic cache cleaning in the apps themselves. For example, Telegram can set a cache limit (for example, 1 GB) and the frequency of its cleaning (for example, once every 3 days). This is done in Settings → Data and memory → Use of memory.
Second, use cloud storage, services like Google Photos, Yandex.Disk or Xiaomi Cloud, which let you store original photos and videos in the cloud, leaving only compressed copies on your device or deleting them altogether after synchronization, freeing up huge amounts of memory.
Third, regularly audit your installed applications, and if you haven't used the software for more than a month, delete it. Modern applications weigh a lot, and their background processes can generate extra garbage.
⚠️ Note: Do not install applications for "acceleration" RAM" On modern versions of Android, they are useless and only consume battery and memory.
Compliance with these simple rules will allow your Xiaomi to work quickly and stably, and the “Other” partition will no longer be a source of concern. Remember that full internal memory filling (over 95%) can lead to serious system failures and data loss, so keep 10-15% of the space free.