Owners of the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro with a storage capacity of 128 GB often face a situation when the free space begins to run out quickly. This is not due to a lack of physical memory, but due to the peculiarities of the Android operating system and the MIUI shell, which accumulate temporary files, logs and cache of applications. The system starts to work slower, there are delays when you start programs, and new photos or applications simply have nowhere to save.
Effective cleaning requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond the standard Clear button, understanding where hidden files are hidden, managing messenger cache, and which system folders are safe to touch, and in this article, we’ll look at all the methods for optimizing storage, from basic settings to advanced file system techniques.
Before you start deleting data, it's important to realize that a complete reset is not the only solution. Good file management allows you to keep your device in perfect condition for years. Let's take a look at the basic steps of freeing up space on your smartphone.
Analysis of storage occupancy through standard means
The first step is always diagnostics. The MIUI has a powerful analysis tool built in that is often ignored by users, which allows you to visually assess which categories of files occupy the most space. To start the analysis, go to the Settings → Storage menu, where the system will offer a scan and give a detailed report.
Note the Apps section. It's common for one or two messengers, like Telegram or WhatsApp, to take up tens of gigabytes, because of the automatic storage of all the videos and photos you've watched. A standard cleaner might not see all the attachments, so manual control in this section is critical.
- 📱 Open the standard Security app and select Cleanup».
- 📊 Click on the chart icon or “Analyze” to see the details.
- 🗑️ Manually select large files in the category "Large files" to delete.
- 🔄 Check the “Recent” section to remove accidentally saved documents.
It is important to understand the difference between the application data and its cache: Deleting the data will reset the program to a “just installed” state, which can lead to loss of correspondence or settings, while cache can be deleted safely, which are temporary files that the program will create again if necessary.
Working with cache and temporary application files
The most efficient way to free up space is to manually cache heavy apps. Android allows you to manage each program's memory separately. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps. Sort the list by memory size to find the most voracious inhabitants of your smartphone.
Select an app like YouTube, Chrome or social network. Inside the app menu, you'll see two buttons: Clear Data and Clear Cache. Use the second option to clean quickly, which will safely remove temporary thumbnails, scripts and logs without affecting your personal accounts.
⚠️ Warning: The Clear button (without the word cache) completely removes the app along with your data, passwords, and correspondence, and only use it if you want to reset the program to factory settings or delete it completely.
Browser is a special focus. It accumulates gigabytes of data when surfing the Internet. In the Chrome or MI Browser settings, look for History or Privacy and clear the browsing data. This often frees up 500MB to 2GB of space instantly.
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Clean the app cache once a week if you actively use social media and video services, which will prevent the accumulation of digital garbage.
Cleaning up garbage in folders of downloads and documents
Download folder is the black hole in the memory of any smartphone, and it's all the files on the Internet. APK-file, PDF-Over time, this directory grows to unimaginable sizes, taking up valuable space on the Redmi Note 9 Pro disk.
To manually check, open the File Manager app. Go to Downloads or the physical path Internal Sharing → Download. Carefully review the content. Often you can find older versions of apps that have already been installed or banner ads that have been downloaded by mistake.
It's also worth checking the DCIM →.thumbnails folder. It's a hidden folder where you store thumbnails of your photos for the gallery. If you've deleted thousands of photos but the space hasn't vacated, it's possible that the tails are here. Deleting the contents of this folder is safe, and the system will recreate the thumbnails the next time you open the gallery, but it will take time and battery power.
- 📂 Find the Tencent or Android folder → Data for cleaning up gaming debris.
- 🎵 Check the Music and Video folder for duplicate tracks.
- 📄 Delete files with the extension.apk if the installation of programs is already completed.
☑️ Weekly cleaning of downloads
Management of multimedia in messengers
WhatsApp, Viber and Telegram messengers are the main culprits behind the 128GB overflow. They automatically store every image and video they receive to the phone’s gallery, creating duplicates. WhatsApp solves this through the settings of the app itself: Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management.
And here you'll see a list of chats sorted by location, and if you go into a particular dialog, you can delete all the videos en masse, or you can delete them. GIF-So you can get a few gigabytes of animations, leave text messages intact, and you can get a few gigabytes free without losing important messages.
In Telegram, the situation is different: the app stores the cache in the cloud, but for quick download it keeps copies of files on the device. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Enable Media Autodelete and set a timer for, for example, 3 days or 1 week. Also click on Clear Telegram cache — this is safe, since all media can be re-downloaded from the cloud.
⚠️ Before mass cleaning of messengers, make sure that important photos and documents are stored in the cloud or on the computer, as it is impossible to recover files deleted from chats.
System Files and the “Other” Section
Users are often intimidated by the “Other” category, which can take 10, 20 or more gigabytes, and this section is where MIUI puts files that can’t be automatically identified, including streaming services (Netflix, Spotify), offline maps (Google Maps, Yandex Maps), game cache, and remnants of remote applications.
To clean this section, you need to find the source of the garbage. Often it's offline maps. If you downloaded a map of a city or country to navigate without the Internet, it can weigh 2-4 GB. Check the map settings and remove unnecessary regions. Also check the music listening apps - the cache of tracks often gets into "Other."
Another source is a folder. MIUI → debug_log. In some firmware versions, the phone creates debugging logs that can grow to huge sizes, and can be safely removed through a conductor. → MIUI → debug_log.
What if the “Other” is not decreasing?
Use of cloud services and external storage
If 128GB of internal storage is still lacking, the best solution is to transfer media files to the cloud or to an external medium. Xiaomi offers its own cloud, but Google Photos and Google Drive also work perfectly. Set up automatic upload of photos in original quality, and then use the “Free space” function in the Google Photos app.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro supports microSD cards, which is a great way to transfer all photos, videos and music to the memory card, and once you install the card, the system will suggest using it as a portable storage device. SD-map, unloading the main drive.
| Cleaning method | Security of data | Efficiency | Frequency of application |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard cleaner | Tall. | Low (500MB - 1GB) | Every day. |
| Cleaning up the app cache | Tall. | Medium (1 - 5 GB) | Once a week. |
| Cleaning messengers | Medium (needs to be backed) | High (5 - 20 GB) | Once a month |
| Reset to factory settings | Low (all removed) | Maximum (up to 100 GB) | If necessary, |
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The combination of using cloud storage for photos and SD-Media cards allow you to almost never face a memory shortage of 128 GB model.
Radical measures: Resetting and optimization
If none of the above methods has produced the desired result, and the phone continues to signal a lack of space, the final argument remains - a complete reset.This will return the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro to the state of the box.Be sure to back up all important data through Settings → About Phone → Backup before doing so.
Once reset, don't restore all the apps in bulk. Install only the programs you need. Often, old, abandoned games and apps hang on the installed list for years and take up space even if you don't use them.
Regular memory maintenance is key to a fast smartphone, so don't wait for the message "Memory is full," do a monthly prevention, which will prolong the life of the drive and ensure a stable speed of the MIUI interface.