Where to find deleted files on Xiaomi: instructions

Accidentally deleting an important photo, document or video on a Xiaomi smartphone is a stressful situation familiar to many users. Fortunately, the MIUI and HyperOS operating system provide several levels of data protection that often go unnoticed in everyday use. Understanding how the Android file system functions helps you quickly navigate and recover lost information without going to service centers.

Before you panic, you should know that the data on flash memory does not disappear instantly; the system only marks the place where it was stored as free to write new information. Recovery is possible until this sector is overwritten. In this article, we will discuss in detail the built-in shell tools, cloud services and third-party methods for finding lost files.

The challenge for Redmi and Poco owners is that there are a variety of firmware versions where menu layouts may vary slightly, but the basic principles of working with Gallery and Explorer remain the same across the brand ecosystem.

Built-in basket Gallery and Conductor

The first place to look for deleted files is the built-in Recycle Bin. In modern versions of MIUI, deleted images and videos are not permanently erased, but are moved to a special clipboard, where they are stored for a certain time, usually 30 days, before being permanently destroyed by the cleaning system.

To access this repository, you just need to open the standard Gallery app. In the upper right corner or in the Albums menu, you often hide the bin folder icon or the watch icon. When you click on it, you'll see a list of all recently deleted media files. The key feature is that the files in the bin take up space on the disk until they are permanently deleted or expire.

The same mechanism works in the Explorer system application, and if you delete a document, archive, or apk file, it can be there. The interface may vary depending on the shell version, but the logic remains the same: search for the Deleted or Recently Deleted section.

• 📂 Open the Gallery and go to the Albums tab, then scroll down to Deleted».
• 🗑️ In Explorer, click on the menu (three bars) and select “Basket” if such an option is activated in the settings.
• 🔄 To restore, select the desired items and click the Restore button to return them to the original folders.
• ⏳ Remember that automatic cleaning of the basket occurs after 30 days, after which the restoration of regular methods will be impossible.

It is important to note that some older models or custom firmware builds may not have an active recycle bin by default, in which cases files are deleted immediately and other search methods are required.

Recovery through Mi Cloud and Google Cloud Services

If local search fails, the next step is to check cloud storage. Xiaomi’s ecosystem is deeply integrated with Mi Cloud, which syncs gallery, contacts and notes by default, and even if a file is removed from the device, a copy of it could remain in the cloud.

To check, you need to go to your phone's settings, select "Mi Account" and go to the Mi Cloud section, where you can select "Gallery" or "All Data," and users often forget that they have sync enabled, and waste time searching for files inside the phone's memory while they are safely lying on the company's servers.

Google Photos and Google Drive have their own carts, independent of the system. Google Photos also stores data for 60 days for photos and 30 days for other files.

The advantage of cloud-based methods is that they don't depend on the physical state of the phone's memory, and even if the device was reset to factory settings, files that have been in the cloud up to that point will remain accessible from any other gadget or browser on the computer.

• ☁️ Visit i.mi.com from your computer to access your Mi Cloud files.
• 📸 Check the Library folder in Google Photos, sometimes files get there when you automatically sort.
• 💾 In Google Drive, check the “Basket” section that clears after 30 days.

Use of the Application Security and Cleaning

The MIUI shell features a powerful system application called Security that includes garbage cleaning functions, which is paradoxical, but it is this tool that sometimes helps to find traces of deleted files or, conversely, causes them to be lost if the user inadvertently confirmed the cleanup.

Inside the app, there's a Cleanup section, and in deep scanning, the system analyzes cache, residual files, and temporary data, and while direct recovery of photos that you've deleted is not possible here, you can find residual application files that might have saved thumbnails or temporary copies of documents.

Also in the Security settings, sometimes you see the Recovery feature, which depends on the region and the firmware version, which allows you to roll back some system changes or restore data from a local backup if it was created earlier through the built-in backup tool.

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Regularly create local backups through the Advanced Settings menu -> Recovery and Reset -> Backup. This will take a couple of minutes, but save data if the cloud doesn't work.

Be careful with Deep Cleanup, which can permanently delete files from hidden folders that are not visible in the standard interface. Always check the list of files intended for deletion before confirming the action.

Search for hidden and system folders through Explorer

Often files are not deleted, but are hidden or moved to system directories after crashes or viruses, and to detect them, you will need to enable the display of hidden files in standard Explorer.

To do this, open the app, click on the menu (three dots or bars) and select Settings. You need to activate the "Show Hidden Files" switch, and then folders that start from a point like.thumbnails or.cache will appear in the root directory and in the application folders.

In the DCIM/.thumbnails folder, you can often find reduced copies of deleted photos. The quality will be low, but it is better than no image at all. It is also worth checking the Android/media folder, where some messengers and social networks store temporary data.

Navigating system folders requires care. Don't delete files that you don't know what they're supposed to be, because that can cause applications to run in an unstable way.

Connecting to a PC and using ADB commands

For advanced users who are not afraid of the command line, debugging is an excellent tool. USB protocol ADB (Android Debug Bridge: This method allows you to access the file system at a deeper level than a regular file manager.

First, activate the developer mode. To do this, go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on the MIUI version seven times. Then turn on Debugging via USB from the “Additional” menu. By connecting the phone to your computer, you can use console commands to search for file traces.

adb pull /sdcard/DCIM/Camera/ C:/Backup/Photos/

This command, for example, copies all the contents of the camera folder to the computer, including those files that may have become invisible to the phone's operating system due to indexing errors, and on a PC, it is easier to run data recovery programs that scan the connected device as an external disk.

⚠️ Attention: Use ADB Incorrect commands can lead to the deletion of system files or the malfunction of the operating system. Always double-check the paths before entering.

You can also use ADB to view system logs that can tell you when and what process deleted a file, which is useful for diagnosing memory problems when files disappear on their own.

Third-party applications for data recovery

When embedded tools are powerless, specialized applications come to the rescue, but on current versions of Android (11, 12, 13, 14), their effectiveness is limited by access rights. Without root rights, they can scan only available memory areas.

Popular programs like DiskDigger or Recycle Bin can find traces of deleted images. They scan memory block by block, trying to find file titles. If a sector has not been overwritten, the file can be saved.

• 📱 DiskDigger: Allows deep scanning (requires root) or standard scanning (no root).
• ♻️ Dumpster: Creates an analog of the Windows basket, intercepting deletions in real time.
• 🔍 Dr.Fone: A comprehensive PC tool that can work with phone backups and memory.

It's important to understand that no application is 100% guaranteed, the longer it's been since you deleted it, and the more you've used it, the less likely you'll be successful, and once you've discovered a loss, you'd better put your phone in aerial mode to stop the background recording.

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The highest chance of returning files is to act in the first hours after deleting and minimize the write of new information to the disk.

Prevention of data loss and setting up autosave

The best way not to search for deleted files is to set up the system so that their loss is impossible. Xiaomi owners should make the most of the automatic backup capabilities.

It is recommended to configure sync not only for the gallery, but also for the voice recorder, notes and messages. The Mi Cloud provides 5 GB for free, which is enough for documents and contacts. For photos, it is better to use unlimited (compressed) storage of Google Photos.

⚠️ Attention: Check sync status regularly. It often happens that due to a password error or overflow of storage, backups stop being created and the user finds out about it too late.

It's also useful to make a full copy once a month to a computer or external hard drive, which is cold storage that protects data even in the event of a virus attack or a cloud service failure, and don't rely on one source of important information.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)