Owners of budget and mid-budget smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi 9 often face an unexpected problem: internal storage is overflowing, even though photos and apps seem to have not accumulated anywhere. When analyzing memory through standard system tools, you can find a mysterious category that takes up gigabytes of space and is called “Other”, which is puzzling, because the user did not download files of this size on their own.
This partition bloat phenomenon is typical of the MIUI shell, which aggregates a lot of heterogeneous data into this category, including temporary files, remnants of deleted applications, messenger cache and system logs, and understanding the nature of this data is the first step to effectively optimize your device without losing important information.
In this article, we will take a closer look at the structure of hidden memory partitions, explain why the system classifies certain files as unknown, and provide proven methods for safe cleaning.
The Nature of the Other Section in the MIUI Shell
The “Other” section of Xiaomi’s storage menu is not a virus or counting error, but a special container for files that the system cannot uniquely classify as media, documents or installed applications. Sort algorithms often include data that does not have an explicit extension or owner.
The bulk of this section is cached data. When you watch videos in your browser, listen to music on streaming services or flip through social media feeds, the content is stored locally for quick re-uploading. Over time, these temporary files accumulate, and if the application does not have an auto-cleaning mechanism, they remain dead weight, occupying precious space.
And then you get error logs and crash reports, and if an application or MIUI system encounters a critical error, you create a report file, which usually takes up a little space, but can grow to hundreds of megabytes if it crashes frequently, and the Other often hides the remnants of remote games or programs that haven't been completely wiped out of the system.
⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to delete files from the Other section through root-rights file managers manually unless you know exactly what they are intended for. Deleting system logs or libraries can lead to unstable interface operation.
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The Other section is a repository of temporary files, cache, and system logs that the system cannot categorize as standard.
Content Analysis: What exactly takes place
In the case of Redmi 9, the main “eaters” of space in the “Other” category are messenger data. Telegram and WhatsApp store all the photos, videos and documents viewed in their internal cache, which the system often perceives as unknown data, especially if the files are encrypted or have a specific folder structure.
The second big block is offline maps and navigation app data. If you've used Google Maps, Yandex Navigator or 2GIS offline, downloaded maps can weigh a few gigabytes, and the system sees this as an app's data array, but doesn't always correctly display them in the Apps section, other things.
The third source is streaming services: YouTube, Netflix, Spotify and their counterparts cache previews, video buffering and album covers; with active smartphone use, a significant amount of this information can accumulate in a month, and temporary update files that were not deleted after the successful installation of the new version of the software.
- 📱 Social media cache (Instagram, TikTok, VK) — often takes up to 40% of the section.
- 💾 Residual files of remote games and heavy applications.
- 🗺️ Loaded map areas and navigation packages.
- 📄 Temporary System and Application Update Files.
It is important to note that the volume of the Other partition can change dynamically, and once cleaned, it can grow again if you do not change your smartphone usage habits or set up automatic cache cleaning.
Standard cleaning methods through Xiaomi settings
The way to start the fight for space is always with built-in tools. The MIUI shell has a powerful enough built-in optimizer that can safely remove most of the garbage. To access it, you need to go to the Security app and select the Cleanup item. The system will scan and suggest that you delete temporary files.
But standard cleaning often doesn't affect the deep app cache, which is the lion's share of the Other. To clean it up, go to Settings, then select Apps and All Apps, find the most heavy programs (usually messengers and browsers), click on them, and select Memory.
Here you'll see two buttons: Clear cache and Clear everything. The first is secure, it will only delete temporary files; the second (Clear everything) will return the application to post-install status by deleting your logins, settings and correspondence. Use it with caution, pre-backup important chats.
☑️ Checking before deep cleaning
After manually cleaning each heavy application, the volume of the Other partition should decrease. If this does not happen immediately, try restarting the device so that the system recalculates the file indexes.
Using the “Conductor” application for manual removal
A more advanced method involves manually searching for heavy files through built-in Explorer. Unlike the standard cleaner, here you see the real folder structure. Go to the Internal Drive and look at folders with application names like Android/data or MIUI.
Special attention should be paid to the Download folder. Often users forget about downloaded installers. APK, PDF-documents or video files that have been sent in messengers and automatically saved, deleting these files safely and instantly frees up space.
Also check the DCIM folder for hidden albums. Some apps, like Snapchat or Instagram, can create hidden folders with a cache of images. In Xiaomi Explorer, you can enable the display of hidden files through the settings menu to see them.
⚠️ Attention: In the folder Android/obb The game cache data (textures, levels) is stored. Deleting the files from here will cause the games to have to be downloaded again when they are launched.
Hidden system folders
Comparison of cleaning methods: efficiency and risks
Not all memory releases are equally useful and safe, and here is a table that will help you choose the best method for your situation by evaluating the risk-result ratio.
| Cleaning method | Efficiency | Risk of data loss | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard cleaning (Safety) | Low (100-300MB) | No. | Low. |
| Cleaning up the app cache | Medium (1-5 GB) | No (logins only) | Medium |
| Removal through the Conductor | High (depending on the user) | High (can be removed extra) | Tall. |
| Reset to factory settings | Maximum (100%) | Total loss of data | Tall. |
As you can see from the table, manual conductor method gives the most control, but requires care. Reset to factory settings is a radical measure that is guaranteed to remove the Other partition, turning the smartphone into a blank sheet, but requires a full backup.
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Use the Cleanup feature in the Security app regularly, at least once a week, to prevent the cache from growing to critical volumes.
Radical measures: resetting and reflashing
If the Other partition takes up a disproportionate amount of space (e.g., 10-15 GB of 64 GB of memory) and is not cleared by standard methods, there may be serious logical debris or indexing errors in the file system, in which case the only effective solution is Hard Reset.
Before you do this, make sure all important contacts, photos and documents are saved in the Google cloud or on your computer. To reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Reset → Erase all data. The process will take a few minutes, after which the phone will turn on as new.
After a reset, the Other section usually takes up the minimum amount (less than 1 GB) needed to run the system, confirming that the partition bloat was caused by the accumulation of user debris, not a memory defect.
⚠️ Warning: Before reset, make sure that the battery is at least 50% charged. Interrupting the reset process due to battery discharge may result in the inability to boot the system (bootloop).
Preventing memory overflow in the future
To prevent the Other problem from returning in a month, you should change the way you use multimedia. In the settings of messengers such as Telegram and WhatsApp, find the Data and Memory section and set the autodelete media files, for example, you can set up the deletion of the channel cache if it has not been viewed for more than 3 days.
It is also recommended to check the list of installed applications regularly. Removing unused programs is the best prevention. Each application, even if you do not use it, can generate background cache and logs, inflating the "Other" section.
Use cloud storage for photos and videos. Google Photos allows you to free up space on your device by removing images that have already been uploaded to the cloud, which frees up most of the memory, indirectly affecting the speed of the system as a whole.