Owners of budget and mid-range smartphones often face a shortage of space, which is critical for the Xiaomi Redmi 5. This model, released in 2017, is still in demand due to reliability, but its internal drives are limited by modern standards. Understanding how exactly memory is distributed in the device is key to maintaining its high performance and stability.
When the system is crowded, users begin to notice delays in the interface, long launches of applications and sudden outbursts of programs. Analysis of occupied space allows you to identify hidden files, messenger cache and forgotten downloads that take up precious gigabytes. Without regular monitoring, a smartphone can turn into a slow device that annoys the owner.
In this article, we will discuss in detail where to find accurate information about the state of storage and RAM, you will learn to distinguish between system processes from user data and understand which files can be deleted without risking the operation of the OS.
Differences between RAM and ROM in the architecture of the smartphone
Before you go to cleanup, you need to clearly understand the difference between the two main types of memory used in Android smartphones: RAM is a fast-acting storage where you temporarily place running applications and active system processes, and it is cleared when you turn off power or reboot the device.
By contrast, ROM, or internal memory, is a permanent storage system, similar to a hard drive in a computer, which stores photos, installed applications, music, video files, and the MIUI operating system itself, and it is this type of memory that most often causes critical errors when installing updates or new programs.
Users often confuse these concepts by trying to make room for photos by closing applications in Task Manager. However, closing programs only affects the current performance, but does not increase the amount of available file storage space.
⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to delete system files in Android folders or MIUI, If you're not sure what they're doing, it can lead to an unstable interface or a cyclical reboot.
In the Redmi 5, RAM is 2 or 3 GB, and internal memory is 16 or 32 GB, depending on the modification. The actual user space is always less than the stated one, since some is reserved for the needs of the operating system.
Checking internal memory through standard settings
The most reliable and secure way to get accurate information about the storage capacity is to use the built-in settings menu, which does not require installing third-party software and gives a complete picture of the data distribution. First, unlock your device screen and find the Settings icon.
In the menu that opens, you need to scroll down to the About Phone section, which contains basic technical information about the model, MIUI version and storage status. Click on Memory (or Storage in new firmware versions) to see detailed statistics.
The screen will display a visual scale showing the ratio of free space to occupied space, automatically categorize files by type: applications, images, video, audio, etc. This allows you to instantly assess which type of content is occupying the most resources.
- 📱 Annexes: show the amount of installed programs and their data.
- 🖼️ Images: include gallery photos, screenshots and thumbnails.
- 🎵 Audio and Video: Music files, downloads from instant messengers and movies.
- 📂 Other: System cache, temporary files and data not elsewhere classified.
If you see an abnormally large partition taking up an “Other” partition, it may indicate a buildup of junk files or a cache of updates, in which case you should use the built-in cleaning tool or manually analyze the contents of folders.
☑️ Diagnostics of the repository
Monitoring of RAM and running processes
To check the load of RAM (RAM) in Xiaomi Redmi 5 uses a slightly different interface. Quick access to this information can be obtained through the multitasking menu. Press the button "Menu" (square or three stripes depending on navigation) or swipe bottom-up with a delay.
At the bottom of the screen or in the floating window, you'll see a button with a broomstick and numbers like "2.1GB/3.0GB." That means that out of 3 gigabytes of total memory, 2.1 gigabytes are now in active use. Pressing the broomstick will force the background processes to close and free up resources.
However, for a deeper analysis, you can include advanced developer settings. Go to Settings → About Phone and quickly click 7 times on MIUI Version. After that, the Developer For Menu will appear in the “Additional” menu.
Inside this section, look for Memory or Running Services, which displays a list of all active processes, with the exact amount of RAM they occupy, which is useful for identifying parasitic applications that consume resources even in the background.
⚠️ Warning: Permanent forced cleaning of RAM ("killing" processes) can increase battery consumption as the system has to restart stopped services.
Why do you need to release RAM?
Using the Security App for Analysis
The MIUI shell preloads a powerful system application called Security, which combines antivirus and cleaner functions. For quick diagnosis, click on the green shield icon on your desktop or in the Tools folder.
On the home screen of the app, select Cleanup. The system automatically scans the device for cache files, remnants of deleted applications and advertising debris. After scanning, you will see a volume of data that can be safely deleted.
It also has a Deep Clean section that allows you to analyze large files, duplicate photos, and rarely used apps, and it's a great tool for finding hidden space reserves that you can't see when you're browsing a gallery.
- 🗑️ Cache Clearing: Deletes temporary data, speeding up the system.
- 📸 Large files: Helps you find forgotten videos or archives.
- 📉 Unused applications: shows programs that have not been running in a long time.
- 📦 Application packaging: allows you to archive rarely used programs, freeing up space.
The use of a regular cleaner is preferable to third-party analogues, since it has the necessary permissions to work with system partitions and does not load the processor with unnecessary background services.
💡
Use the App Packaging feature in the Security menu to hide and freeze rarely used programs without removing them completely.
Analysis of the occupied place through the conductor
For users who prefer manual control, the File Manager provides detailed access to the file system. Launch the application with the yellow folder icon. The main screen at the top usually displays a memory usage bar.
Clicking on this bar or selecting Analysis (in some versions), you will go into file size sorting mode, showing the top of the largest files, regardless of their type, which allows you to quickly find, for example, a forgotten movie or archive.
You can also go to the root directory by clicking on the folder icon that says Internal Drive, and it is important to be careful: delete only files that you know are used (Download, DCIM, Movies).
| folder | Description of the contents | Can I remove it? |
|---|---|---|
| DCIM | Photo and video from the camera | Yeah, unless you have to. |
| Download | Files from the browser | Yeah, after the check. |
| MIUI | System and theme data | No, just the cache inside. |
| Android | Application data (OBB, data) | Careful, he'll reset the progress. |
Pay special attention to the Tencent or Telegram folder if you use these messengers, which often grow to giant sizes due to automatically saved media files from chat rooms.
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Manually sorting files by size in Explorer is the most efficient way to find specific “heavy” objects taking up space.
Advanced Methods: ADB and Usage Statistics
For advanced users who want to get the most accurate information without installing unnecessary programs, there is a method of using USB debugging, which allows you to see hidden statistics of memory usage by each process in real time.
First, you need to activate USB debugging in the Developer Menu that I mentioned earlier, then connect your phone to your computer and use the ADB command to output statistics, which requires drivers and basic command line knowledge.
adb shell dumpsys meminfoThis command will output a detailed report of memory consumption by each running process, divided into Private, Shared, and Pss. While this may seem complicated, this method can identify memory leaks that are not visible in the standard interface.
Also in the For Developers section, there's Memory Statistics, where you can select the interval (3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours) and see the average and maximum RAM consumption of the system and applications, which helps you understand which application "eats" the most resources in the background.
⚠️ Attention: Use of teams ADB Mistakes can cause debugging functions to fail, although user data does not suffer when reading statistics.