How to completely clean the cart on Xiaomi Redmi 8: all ways

Xiaomi Redmi 8 owners often face a problem: deleted photos, videos and documents do not disappear without a trace, but take up space in a hidden basket. Even after clicking Delete, files can be stored there for up to 30 days, eating precious megabytes of internal memory, especially for Redmi 8 with its modest 32/64 GB of storage, where every gigabyte is accounted for.

Many users don't realize that the Recycle Bin in MIUI works differently than on other Android devices, and it's integrated not only into the Gallery, but also into the System File Manager, and has separate settings for the Mi Cloud storage, and if you notice that the phone's memory is filled with invisible files, it's probably the cart's fault, and then we'll look at how to clean it completely in a few steps, including hidden folders and cache.

⚠️ Note: After cleaning the cart, files will be deleted irrevocably – you can only restore them through specialized programs (for example, DiskDigger or Recuva), and then not always. If there are important photos among the deleted data, first check the backups in Mi Cloud or Google Photos.

1. Method: Cleaning the basket through a standard gallery

The most obvious method is to use the built-in Mi Gallery app, which stores all deleted photos and videos separately from other file types. The interface may vary slightly depending on the MIUI version (Redmi 8 typically costs MIUI 11-12), but the overall algorithm is the same.

To open the basket:

• 📱 Open the Gallery app (icon with multi-colored squares).
• 🗑️ Click on the three horizontal lines in the lower right corner (or swipe to the right).
• 🔍 Select the Recycle Bin item (may be called Recently Deleted).
• 🧹 Click Clean in the upper right corner or highlight files manually and delete.

If there is no Clear button, the Recycle Bin is empty or the files are already deleted automatically after 30 days, in which case, check the other methods below.

Check for important files in the cart | Connect to Wi-Fi (if you need to download backup) |Close all background applications to speed up the process | Make sure the battery is at least 20% charged

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2. Method: Delete files through File Manager

The MIUI (Mi File Manager) file manager is a universal tool for working with the memory of the phone, and unlike the Gallery, here the basket stores all types of files: documents, APKs, archives, and even app cache.

1. Open the Files app (an icon with a yellow folder).
2. Go to the Category tab in the lower menu.
3. Scroll down and select the Recycle Bin (or Recently Deleted).
4. Press Control. → Clean the basket.

⚠️ Note: In some versions MIUI The basket in the File Manager can be disabled. To enable it, go to Settings. → Additionally. → Recycle Bin and activate the option to Save deleted files.

If the cart is empty, but the phone's memory is still full, check the.trash folder manually.

1. Enable the display of hidden files in the File Manager settings.
2. Go to the Inner Memory →.trash.
3. Delete all contents of the folder.

Once a week | Once a month | Only when I run out of memory | Never clear | I didn't know I needed to clean-->

3. Method: Cleaning the Mi Cloud basket (cloud storage)

If you use Mi Cloud to sync files, the deleted data can stay in the cloud bin even after the local one is cleaned, and this includes photos, contacts and notes, to make room in the cloud:

• 🌐 Open the Mi Cloud app (or go to i.mi.com).
• 📁 Select the Gallery or Files section.
• 🗑️ Click on the basket icon in the upper right corner.
• 🧹 Select unnecessary files and click Delete Forever.

Note that files in the cloud bin are stored for 60 days (as opposed to 30 days on your phone), and if you haven't logged into Mi Cloud in a long time, there may be a few gigabytes of garbage in the cloud.

4. Hidden basket folders: Where else to look for garbage

In addition to the standard shopping carts in the Gallery and File Manager, Xiaomi Redmi 8 can save temporary files in other folders. They are not visible by default, but they take up space.

To see these folders:

1. Open the file manager.
2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner → Settings.
3. Activate the option to show hidden files.
4. Manually follow these paths and remove the contents.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete Android folders, MIUI or system, which can cause your phone to crash, and avoid deleting files with the.db or.xml extension in the root folders.

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Before mass deletion of hidden files, back up important data. Go to Settings → About Phone → Backup and save a copy to Mi Cloud or your computer.

5. Automatic Cart Cleaning: Setup MIUI

To avoid manually cleaning the bin, you can set up automatic deletion of files after a certain period.

• 📱 Open the phone settings.
• 🔧 Go to the Warehouse section.
• 🗑️ Click on Cleanup (or Free up the Place).
• 🔄 Turn on Automatic Cart Cleaning and select a period (e.g., Every 7 days).

It's also useful to activate the Smart Cleaning function in the same section, and it automatically deletes:

• 📸 Unnecessary screenshots over 30 days.
• 🎵 Duplicate music and video.
• 📁 Temporary application files.

These settings will help keep the Redmi 8 memory in order without manual controls, but the automatic cleaning doesn’t affect the Mi Cloud cloud basket — it will have to be cleaned separately.

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Automatic Recycle Bin Cleanup in MIUI works only for local files, and cloud data (Mi Cloud) and hidden folders (.trash) still need to be manually checked every 1-2 months.

6 What to do if the basket is not cleaned

Sometimes users are faced with the fact that the cart in Redmi 8 is not cleaned in the standard ways.

If none of the methods worked, try resetting the Gallery settings:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Gallery.
2. Press Warehouse. → Clear the data.
3. ⚠️ This will delete all the settings of the application, but will not affect the files themselves.

In extreme cases, you can use third-party utilities, such as Files by Google or SD Maid, which are able to find and clean hidden baskets.

7.How to recover files from the Recycle Bin if you need them

If you accidentally cleared the bin, but the files you need have not been deleted permanently (less than 30 days later), you can try to restore them.

• 🔍 Use applications like DiskDigger or Recuva (require root access for deep scanning).
• 🖥️ Connect your phone to your computer and scan the memory with EaseUS Data Recovery or 7-Data Recovery.
• ☁️ Check backups in Mi Cloud or Google Photos (if sync was enabled).

The chances of recovery depend on:

• 🕒 The time since the removal (the earlier the better).
• 📱 Degrees of memory fragmentation (if new files were written after deletion, the data could be overwritten).
• 🔧 Root rights (without them, scanning will be superficial).

If files are critical, it is better to contact the service center - specialists use professional equipment for recovery.

FAQ: Frequent questions about cleaning the cart on Redmi 8