Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often face the need to find a specific document, a downloaded photo or a messenger cache. The standard file manager preinstalled in the MIUI shell or the new HyperOS offers convenient categorization, but hides the real structure of directories. Understanding how the Android file system works allows you to effectively manage the device’s memory and quickly find the necessary data.
Finding information on a smartphone can be difficult due to the nature of the organization of data in Android 11, 12, 13 and later. Google security system restricts access to system folders, but user files remain available. In this article, we will discuss the exact paths to the most important parts of memory of your device.
We're going to look at not only the standard directories for photos and downloads, but also the specific locations of the data storage of popular applications, which can be useful for cleaning up garbage, transferring data to a computer or recovering deleted information, and how to find out where your data is physically located inside your smartphone.
The structure of the Android file system in Xiaomi
Xiaomi’s smartphone file system is based on the Linux architecture, which implies a clear hierarchy of directories. For the average user, the most important is internal memory, which is mounted as a data store. Unlike older versions of Android, modern shells strictly separate the system partition and user space.
The root directory, denoted by the symbol /, contains system files by the operating system. Access here for the average user without Root rights is closed, which is done to protect the integrity of MIUI. All your personal files, including music, documents and downloads, are in the internal memory section, which in file managers is often referred to as /storage/emulated/0 or simply "Internal drive".
It's important to understand the difference between paths. The absolute path starts at the root of the file system, whereas the relative path starts at the current folder. Most of the time, when you connect your phone to your computer via USB, you see the emulated portion of internal memory, and it's where the major folders, like DCIM, Download, and Pictures, are located.
⚠️ Warning: Never attempt to manually delete or rename folders in root system partitions if you have Root access.This can result in a bootloop (cyclic reboot) and a smartphone completely inoperable.
Xiaomi's standard file manager makes it easy to navigate by grouping files by type, but for deep work, it's better to use the display mode of all files. In this mode, you'll see the real directory structure. Understanding the logic of naming folders will help you navigate gigabytes of data faster.
Where downloads, photos and videos are stored
The most commonly used directories are places to save content from the Internet and media files from the camera. When you download a file through the Chrome browser or the built-in browser. MIUI, It goes to the Download folder by default. /storage/emulated/0/Download. This is where we should look. APK-files PDF archives.
For photos and videos taken with the main or front camera, the DCIM directory is reserved. Inside it is the Camera folder where all the original images are stored. If you use third-party camera apps, they can create their own subfolders inside the DCIM or at the root of internal memory.
Screenshots and screen recordings are usually saved to the Pictures folder, the Screenshots subdirectory. However, in some versions of HyperOS or when using certain themes, the path may change to MIUI/Gallery/Screenshots. Always check the settings of the specific application taking the screenshot.
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Use the Favorites feature in the file manager for frequently visited folders such as Download or DCIM/Camera so you don’t have to search for them again every time.
Below is a table with the main paths to custom media files for quick access:
| File type | The path in the file system | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Downloads. | /storage/emulated/0/Download | Files from browsers and messengers |
| Photos and videos | /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Camera | Primary and front camera images |
| Screenshots | /storage/emulated/0/Pictures/Screenshots | Screenshots of the system |
| Bluetooth | /storage/emulated/0/Bluetooth | Files obtained via Bluetooth |
| Audio recordings | /storage/emulated/0/Music/Recorder | Recorder recordings |
Location of data messengers: WhatsApp and Telegram
Messengers take up a significant portion of a smartphone’s memory, and finding specific files in them can be tricky (11 The folder structure has been changed for security reasons. Application data is now strictly isolated in the directory. Android/data, restricted.
For WhatsApp, the situation is this: in older versions of Android, the WhatsApp folder was at the root of internal memory. The current path is /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.whatsapp/media. It's where the WhatsApp Images, WhatsApp Video and others are located. However, thanks to the features of the MIUI implementation, a copy of the database and media files is often duplicated in the WhatsApp root folder for user convenience.
Telegram stores cache and downloaded files in the folder Android/data/org.telegram.messenger/files. Inside this directory is the Telegram folder, where the subdirectories Telegram Audio, Telegram Documents and Telegram Images. If Telegram settings include saving to the gallery, then copies of photos and videos will also be available in the shared folder DCIM or Pictures.
Why the folder Android/data may be empty?
Cleaning up these folders can free up gigabytes of space, but be careful. Deleting files from messenger folders will cause them to disappear from correspondence if they are not stored in the cloud. Regularly archiving important documents from these directories to a computer or to cloud storage is a reasonable habit.
System folders and MIUI application data
The MIUI shell and HyperOS create many of their own folders to store theme settings, backups, and cache of system applications. The MIUI folder at the root of internal memory is key. Inside it is the backup subdirectory, which stores full system backups created through the standard recovery menu.
The path to backups is /storage/emulated/0/MIUI/backup/AllBackup. Here are the.bak archives containing application data, system settings and SMS. Also in the MIUI folder you can often find the Gallery directory with cloud albums and theme with downloaded themes.
Apps from GetApps or APKs can create folders at the root of memory, such as games often create a folder with the name of the developer or game name, and the cache of Google Play Services and other system services is stored in hidden directories that are only accessible with superuser rights.
⚠️ Attention: Folder MIUI/backup It can take tens of gigabytes. Unless you plan on restoring your phone from a local copy, old backups can be safely removed to make room.
For advanced users, it is useful to know that the Obb folder exists along the path /storage/emulated/0/Android/obb. This stores additional data files for heavy games. Deleting the contents of this folder will cause the games to stop running and require re-loading resources.
☑️ Checking before cleaning the memory
How to Access Hidden and System Files
Xiaomi’s standard tools hide some files so that the user does not accidentally damage the system. To see hidden files (those whose names begin with a dot, for example.nomedia), you need to turn on the appropriate option in the Explorer settings, which is usually located in the Explorer settings menu and is called Show Hidden Files.
Normal user rights are not enough to access secure system partitions like /data or /system, requiring bootloader unlocking and Root rights (e.g., via Magisk), and once you have superuser rights, you can use file managers like Root Explorer or Solid Explorer to edit system configs.
An alternative way to access a file system without Root permissions is to use USB debugging (ADB), and by connecting your phone to your computer and installing the drivers, you can send commands to view and copy files from any partitions you can find, and it's a powerful tool for diagnosing and retrieving data.
adb pull /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.example.app/files/config.ini C:/Backup/Using ADB allows you to perform bulk operations on files that are inconvenient to do through the phone interface, for example, you can quickly copy the entire folder of logs or configurations to a PC for analysis, but be extremely careful when deleting files through console commands.
Cleaning up garbage and optimizing storage
The accumulation of temporary files, cache and residual data from remote applications is the main reason for the lack of space. Xiaomi smartphones have a built-in "Security" app that contains the "Cleanup" tool. It automatically scans the main folders for debris. However, manual control is often more effective.
First of all, check the Download folder, which often has app installers that are no longer needed for years, or old documents, a social media cache folder, for example, Telegram allows you to set up automatic cache cleaning in the app's settings, which is safer than manually deleting files through a Explorer.
And you should also look at the thumbnails folder inside DCIM/.thumbnails, which is a hidden folder where you store thumbnails of your gallery photos, and it can grow to a few gigabytes, and it can be cleaned, but the system will create it again the next time you run the gallery.
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Regular manual check of folders Download and DCIM/.thumbnails allows you to free up to 5-10 GB of space without installing third-party software.
Remember the shopping cart in the gallery and file manager. Deleted files often stay there for 30 days, continuing to take up space. Cleaning the cart is the final step in the process of freeing up space on your Xiaomi device.