Owners of the Xiaomi Redmi 5 smartphone often face a mysterious situation where the device’s internal memory fills up for no apparent reason: You delete photos, clean apps, but the storage indicator still burns red, indicating a critical lack of space. The culprit of this chaos is a section called “Others” in the system storage, which can inflate to several gigabytes, absorbing precious resources.
This problem is common in the MIUI shell, which aggregates all files that are not in the standard groups like Photos or Video into this category, including app cache, remnants of deleted programs, system logs and temporary update files, and understanding the nature of this data is the first step to successfully clean a device and restore its former performance.
In this article, we will discuss in detail the safe and effective methods of freeing up space. We will not use questionable applications-cleaners, which often only aggravate the situation, but use the proven tools of the system itself and file managers. Xiaomi Redmi 5 is able to work quickly if you properly maintain its file system.
The Nature of the Others section in MIUI
To effectively combat memory overflow, you need to understand what exactly is behind this system label. The Android operating system that underlies MIUI firmware classifies files by type. Anything that is not multimedia, installation package or document of a known format is sent to the Others category. It is a kind of black box of the file system.
The bulk of this section is usually taken up by data from messengers like WhatsApp and Telegram, which store thousands of small files like stickers, thumbnails, voice messages and temporary copies of documents, and over time, this digital garbage accumulates, taking up gigabytes, even though the user may not even know it exists.
System caches and error logs also take up a significant part of the volume. Applications save temporary data to speed up work, but often forget to delete it after the session is over. As a result, with the Xiaomi Redmi 5 with its smaller internal memory capacity, this becomes a critical factor slowing down the interface.
⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to delete files from system folders manually unless you are 100% sure of their purpose.Deleting critical libraries may result in system instability or a cyclical device reboot.
Another source of heavy files is offline maps of navigators and cache of streaming services. Spotify, Yandex.Navigator and YouTube store data for work without the Internet, and these files are also classified by the system as “Others”, and regular checks of these applications allow you to keep the volume of the partition under control.
Basic cleaning by standard system means
Before we get to the tricky side of things, we need to use Xiaomi’s built-in tools, which include basic maintenance mechanisms that are safe for the average user, and the first step is to always launch a regular cleaner that is integrated into the security menu.
To get started, open the Security app (green shield icon) on your desktop. Select Clean. The system will analyze the device and suggest removing debris. However, standard runtime often only removes the surface layer of data, so deeper intervention through storage settings is required.
☑️ Basic cleaning algorithm
Go to Settings → Memory. Here you will see a colored space allocation diagram. Click on the Others section or the Clear button at the bottom of the screen. The system will prompt you to delete the app cache. This is secure, because the cache is temporary data that the apps will create again if necessary.
It's important to distinguish between cache cleaning and data cleaning. Clear Cache removes temporary files, speeding up your work, but saving your logins and settings. Clear Data returns the application to state immediately after installation, removing all accounts and progress. In the Others section, we fight cache.
Manual work with files through the Explorer
Automatic tools don’t always see all files, especially those created by third-party applications. For deep cleaning on Xiaomi Redmi 5, you need to use the standard File Manager Explorer, which allows you to look into the hidden corners of the file system and delete what the system considers to be irrelevant.
Open the Explorer app and click on the menu icon (three bars). Turn on the hidden files. Now go to the internal storage root folder. We're interested in folders with app names you haven't used in a long time, or folders with names like android, data, and obb, where heavy game content is stored.
Pay special attention to the MIUI folder, and inside it – the gallery folder (there may be deleted photos from the basket) and the cloud. Also check the Download folder, which often downloads APK installation files that are no longer needed after installing programs.
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Use file size sorting in Explorer to instantly find the heaviest objects in the Others section and decide to delete them.
When working with Android/data and Android/obb folders, be extremely careful: Deleting the contents of these folders will reset the progress of games or remove offline maps; it is better to delete the contents of folders of specific remote applications, the names of which do not tell you anything.
Memory analysis by messengers
Messengers are always the leaders in filling in the “Others” section. WhatsApp and Telegram have a habit of storing all received media files in the memory of the device, even if you have already viewed them and forgotten them. These files are indexed by the system as “Others” if they do not have a clear category.
In Telegram, the cleanup is done most efficiently through the settings of the app itself. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you will see the “Clear Cache” button. Press it boldly. Unlike other apps, Telegram stores all of its correspondence and media history in the cloud, so deleting the cache will not cause data loss — it will be rebooted when viewed.
On WhatsApp, the situation is more complicated because the history is stored locally. Go to Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. The app will show you a list of chat rooms that take up the most space. You can select a specific chat and delete heavy videos or files, leaving text messages intact.
- 📱 Regularly clean the Telegram cache through the app settings, it is safe and frees up gigabytes.
- 🗑️ On WhatsApp, use the built-in storage manager to remove files from specific chats.
- 🚫 Disable autoload media in the settings of messengers so that they stop clogging memory automatically.
After clearing the messenger cache, the “Others” section of Xiaomi Redmi 5 is usually reduced by a few gigabytes, which is the most effective way to fight for free space without losing personal data.
Use of Developer Mode and ADB
For advanced users who are not afraid of technical terms, there is a more powerful tool – debugging over USB and ADB commands. This method allows you to clear the cache of Google system applications and services, which often do not appear in the usual settings menu.
First, activate the developer mode. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click on MIUI Version seven times. After the message “You became a developer” appears, go back to the main settings menu and find “Additional” → “Developers”.
Turn on USB debugging. Connect your phone to your computer. If you have ADB (Android Debug Bridge) on your computer, you can execute a command to clear the cache of all applications at once. This is a radical but effective method.
adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999This command forcibly trims the cache of applications, freeing up space. However, using ADB requires caution. Incorrect use of commands can lead to the removal of important system components.
⚠️ Attention: Use of teams ADB Errors in command input can disrupt the operation of the operating system. Backup data before starting procedures.
If you don’t want to use a computer, you can find the “Background Process Limit” menu on the phone itself, and setting a 2-3 process limit will help reduce the amount of temporary files the system creates in the background, although this can affect multitasking.
Table: Comparison of cleaning methods
To make it easier for you to choose the right method, we have systematized the cleaning methods of the Others section on Xiaomi Redmi 5 in the table. Each method has its own advantages and risks that need to be considered.
| Method | Efficiency | Security | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Cleaning (Safety) | Low. | Tall. | Minimum |
| Clearing messenger cache | Tall. | Tall. | Low. |
| Manual removal through the conductor | Medium | Medium | Medium |
| ADB teams | Maximum | Low. | Tall. |
As you can see from the table, for most users, the best solution is a combination of regular cleaning and working with messengers. Manual methods require attention, and ADB requires technical skills.
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The combination of cleaning methods (automatic + manual) gives the best result and allows you to free up to 80% of the space in the Others section.
Prevention of memory overflow
After a successful cleanup, it is important to keep the result. Xiaomi Redmi 5 is a device with limited memory by modern standards, so the habit of keeping track of storage should become commonplace. Prevention takes less time than dealing with the consequences.
Set up automatic cleaning. The Security app has a Speed feature that can be started on schedule or when you unlock the screen, and you should also turn off auto-save photos and videos in the gallery if you use cloud services like Google Photos.
Check the Downloads folder regularly, and users often forget about downloaded menus, instructions, or game installers that are no longer needed, and deleting these files once a month is a good habit.
Hidden system files
Use cloud storage to archive old data, and transferring photos and videos to the cloud allows you to delete them from your device, freeing up space, but retaining access to them at any time, which is especially true for Redmi 5 owners.