Where to look for a shopping cart in Xiaomi Poco phones: a complete guide to recovering deleted files

You accidentally deleted an important file on Xiaomi Poco and now you don't know where to look for a basket to recover it? This problem is familiar to many users of smartphones based on MIUI, Xiaomi's proprietary shell. Unlike Windows or macOS, where the basket is always in sight, in Android (and especially in MIUI firmware), the system for storing deleted files works differently. In this article, we will analyze all possible places where your "basket" may be hiding, from the standard garbage storage in the gallery to the hidden folders of the file manager.

It is important to understand that the concept of a “basket” in Poco depends on the type of content removed:

• 📷 Photos and videos – enter the “Baskbasket” of the Gallery application and are stored there for 30 days.
• 📄 Documents and files – can be sent to the File Manager Recycle Bin (if the function is enabled).
• ✉️ Emails from mail – stored in the “Basket” folder of your email client (Gmail, Mi Mail, etc.).
• 🗑️ System files – deleted irrevocably (unless backup is used).

If you deleted a file a long time ago (more than a month ago) or cleaned the trash by hand, the chances of recovery are minimal, in which case only specialized data recovery software will help - but this is already a topic for a separate article. Now let's figure out where in your Poco model to look for deleted files and how to return them in 2 minutes.

1. Recycle bin in the Gallery app - where deleted photos and videos are stored

The most obvious place Xiaomi Poco users are looking for deleted files is the built-in Recycle Bin in the Gallery app, which works like a computer basket: files are not deleted immediately, but are stored for 30 days before final erasure.

1. Open the Gallery app (an icon with colorful photos).
2. Slip on three horizontal lines (☰) in the upper or lower right corner (depending on the version) MIUI).
3. In the drop-down menu, select the Recycle Bin (or Trash in English).
4. You'll see a list of deleted photos and videos. To recover a file, click on it and select Restore.

⚠️ Note: If the menu does not have the "Basket" option, then the function is disabled in the settings:

1. Go to the Gallery Settings → Basket.
2. Activate the switch Turn on the basket.
3. Set a storage period (by default - 30 days).

If you use Google Photos instead of a standard gallery, the shopping cart there works differently:

• 🔍 Deleted photos are stored in the Recycle Bin section inside the Google Photos app.
• ⏳ Shelf life - 60 days (instead of 30 in) MIUI).
• 🚫 If you manually cleaned the shopping cart or the file was there for more than 60 days, it is impossible to restore it through the application.

Recycle Bin in MIUI File Manager – Where to Look for Deleted Documents

Unlike photos, regular files (PDF, DOCX, APK, ZIP) don’t always get into the bin automatically, depending on how you delete them:

To check the basket in the MIUI file manager:

1. Open the File Manager application (folder icon).
2. In the lower menu, select the Recycle Bin section (Dumpster icon).
3. If there is no section, click on three dots (⋮) in the upper right corner and select Settings → Recycle bin, then turn on the function.

💡

If you often work with important documents, enable automatic backup in Settings → Google → Backup. This will save files even when you reset your phone to factory settings.

3. basket in mail applications (Gmail, Mi Mail, Outlook)

If you delete an email from an email client on Xiaomi Poco, it doesn’t disappear forever, but moves to the Recycle Bin folder (or Remote in some apps).

• 📧 Gmail: Open the Gmail app. Tap on three horizontal lines (☰) In the top left corner, scroll down and select the Recycle Bin, and to restore the email, open it and click on the folder icon (📁) → Move to → Select a folder (for example, “Incoming»).
• 📩 Mi Mail (Standard Mail Application) MIUI): Launch Mi Mail. Click on the menu icon (☰) → Bag. Select the letter and press Restore.

Outlook:

1. Open Outlook.
2. Put it on the folder icon (📁) bottom-line.
3. Select Remote Items (or Deleted Items).

⚠️ Note: In email applications, the e-mails in the shopping cart are usually stored for 30 days, after which they are deleted permanently. In Gmail, this period can be extended to 60 days in the web version (setting is hidden in Settings). → General. → Maximum retention period for deleted emails).

4 Hidden folders and system baskets – where else files can be stored

MIUI hides some system folders where junk files can remain after deletion, such as:

• 📁.trash is a hidden folder in the root directory of internal memory (visible only through a Root conductor or adb shell).
• 🗃️ MIUI/backup/AllBackup — Backup copies of deleted data can be stored here (if automatic backup has been enabled).
• 🔄 Android/data/com.android.providers.media — cache of media files, sometimes containing "ghost" copies of deleted photos.

5. File recovery after cleaning the cart

If the basket is empty or you've cleaned it, it's not all lost.

1. Check out cloud backups: 🌥️ Google Drive: drive.google.com → Basket. ☁️ Mi Cloud: Settings → Mi Account → Mi Cloud → Backup copies.

Use the recovery software:

• 📱 For Android: DiskDigger, Recuva (requires Root).
• 💻 For PC: EaseUS Data Recovery, PhotoRec (if the phone is connected as a drive).
• If files are critical (such as photos from a wedding), specialists can extract data directly from flash memory (cost – from 3 000 USD). ₽).
• 🔧 Through phone settings: Go to Settings → Memory. → Clean. Select Deep Clean (deletes cache and temporary files).
• 🛠️ Through factory reset: This will delete all data without the possibility of recovery (if there was no backup). → The phone. → Resetting settings.
• 💾 Through encryption: Encrypt your phone’s memory in Settings → Security → Encrypt, then reset. Data will be deleted forever.