The popular Redmi Note 8 Pro smartphone often faces a nasty situation: notifications of memory shortages appear suddenly, even though the user has not downloaded new apps or heavy games. The main culprit is a mysterious partition in the storage, which the system designates as “Other” or “System”, which can grow to tens of gigabytes, occupying up to 40% of all available space.
The reason lies in the features of the MIUI shell and the Android operating system, which accumulate temporary files, error logs, remnants of deleted programs and messenger cache. Standard cleaning tools do not always cope with deep system deposits, requiring more advanced methods of intervention. In this article, we will discuss in detail the safe ways to free up space that will return your device to speed.
The reasons for the growth of the system partition on the Redmi Note 8 Pro
The phenomenon of increasing the volume of the folder “Other” is not a bug or virus in the classical sense. It is a consequence of active use of the gadget. Android operating system creates many temporary files to speed up the work of applications, but the mechanism of automatic removal of them often fails, especially for the Redmi Note 8 Pro model, which came out a few years ago and could be updated through many versions of the firmware.
Social media and messaging are the main storage devices. Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber store the media files they receive into their own hidden directories, which the standard memory analyzer doesn’t always correctly classify as “Images” or “Video”, and as a result, they end up in a common pile of system data.
Application logs, which are text reports, also play a significant role. If an application is unstable, it can generate megabytes of error reports daily, which are hidden from the user's eyes but take up space, and another factor is the remnants of remote games and applications whose cache files were not erased when uninstalled.
⚠️ Before you start a deep cleaning, be sure to back up your important data on your computer or in the cloud, as some methods can lead to loss of information.
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Use the “Backup” feature in Xiaomi’s settings to save contacts and SMS before cleaning the system.
Basic cleaning through MIUI tools
The first step should always be to use the built-in functionality, because it is the most secure for system stability. In Xiaomi smartphones, the Security app is responsible for this. It can find obvious garbage files, but often miss system caches.
To start the process, you need to open the Security app and select Cleanup. The system will scan and suggest that you delete temporary files. However, for more detailed work, you need to go to memory management. Click on the Garbage or Storage Management icon to see a detailed breakdown by category.
In the menu that opens, select the category “Other” or “System Data.” You can often find large files that the system has mistakenly classified. It is also useful to use the Deep Clean feature, which scans duplicate photos and large files that the user has forgotten.
- 📱 Open the Security app on the home screen.
- 🗑️ Click on the Clean button and wait for the analysis to be completed.
- 📂 Go to the Storage Management section for a detailed view.
- 🧹 Use the Deep Cleaning function to find duplicates.
☑️ Basic cleaning
Manual removal of app cache and messengers
The most effective way to reduce the size of the Other folder is to manually cache heavy apps. Messengers like Telegram have the property of storing all of your correspondence history and media files locally, and even if you delete the chat in the interface, the files can remain in your phone's memory.
Go to Settings, then select Apps and All Apps. Find the most "heavy" programs (usually social networks and navigators). Enter the app menu and click Storage. Here you will see two buttons: "Clean" and "Delete." It is important to click on "Clean" that will reset the cache, but save your logins and account data.
For instant messengers, there is a finer setup inside the app itself, for example, in Telegram you need to go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use and click Clear Cache. There you can set a cache size limit or autodelete old files, which will prevent problems in the future.
⚠️ Warning: Don't confuse the "Clean" button with the "Delete" button. The "Delete" button completely uninstalls the application with all the data.
Browsers are worth paying special attention to: they accumulate gigabytes of data when browsing web pages with images, Clearing history and cache in Chrome or standard MIUI browser can instantly free up 1-2 GB of space.
Using a computer and conductor for deep cleaning
Visualizing the file system through a computer often lets you see what's hidden on your smartphone screen. Connect your Redmi Note 8 Pro to your PC via a PC USB-cable and select file transfer mode (MTP). On your computer, open the conductor and go to the device’s internal memory.
You need to find folders with the names of the apps you deleted long ago, or folders Android/data and Android/obb. The last two directories store game and program data. If you delete a game, but the folder with its name remains in obb, you can safely delete it manually.
Also worth checking is the root folders of messengers, such as the Tencent folder (for WeChat or QQ) or the folders with the names of social networks often contain cache or temp subfolders, and their contents can be deleted without fear of damaging the system, but you need to do it selectively.
What folders can't you touch?
For easy analysis, you can use third-party disk space visualization explorers, such as DiskUsage or Total Commander, which build a graphics memory card where you can immediately see which file or folder takes up the most space.
Resetting settings as a radical solution method
If none of the softer methods worked and the Other folder continues to occupy a critical volume (e.g., more than 20 GB), the only guaranteed way is a complete factory reset, which completely clears the System Data partition, returning the phone to the “out of the box” state.
Before starting the procedure, make sure all important contacts, photos and documents are saved. Reset will delete absolutely all user data. To perform, go to Settings, select About Phone, then Reset Settings and click Erase all data.
Once the phone is restarted, the Other folder will have the minimum size (usually 2-4 GB) required to run the system, and it is recommended not to restore the backup of the apps immediately, but to install them again so as not to return the old junk.
| Cleaning method | Efficiency | Risk of data loss | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff cleaning | Low. | No. | Easy. |
| Cleaning up the app cache | Medium | No (only cache) | Middle-Average |
| Through PC (conductor) | Tall. | Medium. | Hardly. |
| Reset to factory | Maximum | Total loss. | Easy. |
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A full reset is the only way to guarantee to clean up system debris accumulated over the years of use, but it takes time to reset the phone.
Prevention and optimization of storage
To prevent the problem of inflating the “Other” folder on the Redmi Note 8 Pro from recurring in the future, you need to introduce a habit of regular maintenance. MIUI is prone to accumulating errors when working long hours without rebooting. It is recommended to restart the smartphone at least once a week.
Use cloud storage for photos and videos. Services like Google Photos or Yandex.Disk can automatically free up space on your device after uploading media to the cloud, which will significantly reduce the load on internal memory, which is not the fastest in the Note 8 Pro model.
- 🔄 Reboot your phone once in a while. 3-4 day-to-day resetting of system processes.
- ☁️ Enable cloud-based sync to automatically delete local copies.
- 🚫 Turn off auto-save statuses in WhatsApp and Telegram.
- 📉 Check the download folder regularly for unnecessary APK-file.
Also, you should limit the background activity of applications, in the battery settings, you can prevent unnecessary programs from working in the background, which will reduce the number of temporary files and logs they create.