How to Clean Another Folder on Xiaomi

Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco smartphones often face a situation where the device’s internal memory is overflowing and it becomes almost impossible to free up space. The system shows that a significant part of the storage is occupied by a mysterious “Other” section, which looks like a black box in the standard settings menu.

The problem lies in the specifics of the Android operating system and the MIUI or HyperOS shell. The Other category is not a physical folder with one particular location, but a collection of application cache, residual files of remote programs, temporary data, system logs and unidentified file formats. Often this partition grows to tens of gigabytes, occupying up to 30-40% of all available space, which critically slows down the gadget.

In this article, we will discuss safe and effective methods of cleaning this section. You do not need to be an expert in programming to regain space. We will look at the regular cleaning tools, working with the messenger cache and advanced methods through the computer that will help free up gigabytes of valuable space.

⚠️ Warning: Before any manipulation of system files or deep cleaning is initiated, it is strongly recommended to back up important data in the cloud or on your computer to avoid accidental loss of information.

What is hidden in the category "Other"

Before we take any drastic action, we need to understand the structure of the data that the system classifies as “Other” — first and foremost, the app cache. Social networks and instant messengers like Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber accumulate huge volumes of temporary files: images, videos, voice messages that you have already viewed, but they are stored in memory for quick re-upload.

The second component is residual files, and when you delete an application in the standard way, there are often folders left in the system with its settings, error logs, or temporary data, and over time, these tails accumulate in many places, and they occupy a place that is not formally owned by any active application.

Unidentified file formats also fall in, and if you download a file that is not encrypted on the system or has an associated opener app, Android automatically places it in the Other category, which can be archives, specific documents, or game data files.

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Use the built-in storage analyzer to see which apps occupy the most space in the Other category, usually the top cache-volume list.

Standard cleaning methods through settings

The safest and first step for every user is to use built-in optimization tools. Xiaomi has provided basic garbage control functionality, opening the Security app and selecting Cleanup, scanning it and prompting it to delete unnecessary files.

But standard cleaning is often superficial. To get to the deep layers, go to Settings → Storage. Here you will see a detailed breakdown by category. Clicking on "Other" you can see a list of applications whose cache and data contribute the most to memory filling. The system can suggest clearing the cache for each of them separately.

It is important to distinguish between Clear Cache and Clear Data. The first operation is secure and only deletes temporary files without affecting your logins and correspondence (although some applications may require re-entry). The second operation completely removes the application along with all its settings and files, returning it to the state immediately after installation.

• 📱 Go to the Settings menu → Annexes → All applications for manual control.
• 🗑️ Select a heavy app (like Instagram or TikTok) and click Memory».
• 🧹 Click the “Clear Cache” button to delete temporary files without losing data.
• 📂 Use the “Clean Everything” button only if you are ready to reconfigure the app.

Cleaning up garbage in messengers and social networks

The lion’s share of the space in the “Other” section on Xiaomi smartphones is accounted for by messengers. Telegram, for example, stores all the media files viewed in the device’s memory by default. This is done for speed, but over time, the Telegram cache folder can grow to 10-20 GB or more.

To clean the app properly, you need to go to the settings of the app itself. In Telegram, the path looks like this: Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you can click on the button “Clear Telegram cache.” Don’t worry, your photos and videos won’t be lost forever – they will remain in the messenger cloud and will be re-downloaded when you view it if you need to.

WhatsApp is similar, but file management is more fragmented, and we recommend using a built-in storage management tool: Settings → Data & Storage → Storage Management. Here you can select the specific chats that occupy the most space and remove attachments selectively, a more subtle approach that allows you to save important documents by removing old funny videos.

⚠️ Attention: Clearing the cache in messengers does not delete your correspondence, but deletes the files uploaded to the device. If you do not have access to the Internet, you will not be able to view the cleaned photos again.

Another important aspect is auto-save to the gallery, which many social media apps default to saving all images they receive to the system gallery, duplicating them and increasing the amount of space they occupy, and disabling this feature in each application's settings will help prevent the Other section from growing in the future.

Using a conductor for deep cleaning

For more advanced users, a standard Explorer (or any other file manager, such as Total Commander or Solid Explorer) would be a great tool. Direct access to the file system allows you to see what is hidden from the standard analyzer. At the root of internal memory are often folders with the names of remote applications or system logs.

The Android/data folder is a special focus, and it stores app data, and you can find folders with game names (often several gigabytes) or social media, and inside folders with packet names (such as com.whatsapp), you can find cache or temp subfolders that can be safely deleted.

It's also worth checking the root directory for files with the.log extension or folders with names like tombstones, log, debug. These files are created by the system when errors and crashes occur. If your phone is stable, you don't need these files and deleting them will make room.

Cleaning through computer and ADB

If you can't get the space out of the way with built-in methods, you can connect to your computer. USB-cable and select file transfer mode (MTP). This will allow you to visually evaluate the structure of folders and find the heavyweights that may have been lost.

For users who are not afraid of complex tools, there is a method of cleaning through the ADB (Android Debug Bridge. This allows you to delete the system cache and files that are not available through the normal interface. USB» menu "For developers».

Once you have connected and configured the ADB on your computer, you can use commands to clear the cache of a particular application or the entire system, for example, a command to clear the cache of a batch manager or a particular application is as follows:

adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999

This command forces the system to vacate space by removing the cache of applications starting with the oldest ones, and the number indicates the target amount of free memory in bytes that you want to free up. [package_name] To completely clean the data of a particular application whose packet name you know.

⚠️ Attention: Use of teams ADB Introducing the wrong command or removing system packets can lead to "blocking" of the device or loss of data. Use this method only if you are confident in your actions.

Prevention of memory overflow

After a successful cleanup, it is important to prevent the Other from re-growing. Regular prevention takes less time than dealing with the consequences. First of all, set up automatic cache cleaning in the Security app. You can set periodicity in the janitor's settings, for example, every 3 days.

The second step is to control auto-updates and auto-save, disable the download of media over the mobile network in the messenger settings. Leave this feature only for Wi-Fi, which will not only save memory, but also save your mobile traffic.

The third important aspect is the use of cloud services: Xiaomi Cloud, Google Photos or Yandex.Disk allows you to store original photos and videos in the cloud, leaving only optimized copies on the device or removing them altogether after downloading, which dramatically reduces the load on internal storage.

• ☁️ Set up the gallery to sync with the cloud and enable the “Free Space” function».
• 🚫 Turn off autoloading social media videos in traffic saving settings.
• 📅 Once a month, audit installed applications and remove unnecessary.
• 📲 Use lightweight versions of apps (Lite) if you have a low memory model.

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Regular cleaning of messenger cache and disabling auto-save media files can reduce the volume of the “Other” partition by 50-70% in the long term.

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