Xiaomi’s “Other Files”: How to Find and Delete Them Without Harming Your System

Have you ever looked into your Xiaomi storage and found the lion’s share of memory occupied by mysterious “other files”? This partition can weigh tens of gigabytes, but it doesn’t give any information about its content. Unlike photos, videos or apps that are easy to identify, “other files” on Redmi, POCO or Mi often become a “black hole” for free space.

In this article, we’ll explore what exactly lies beneath this category, why MIUI doesn’t always correctly distribute files into sections, and most importantly, how to safely clean that data without removing anything important. You’ll learn about Xiaomi’s built-in tools, third-party utilities and manual methods to help you recover precious gigabytes. And we’ll also tell you which files you can never touch under any circumstances, so as not to turn a smartphone into a brick.

What are Xiaomi’s “Other Files” and Why Do They Take So Much Space?

In MIUI (and other Android-based shells), the Other Files section is a kind of trash can for data that the system failed to categorize as standard: photos, videos, audio, or documents.

• 📁 Application cache is a temporary file that programs create to speed up work, but often not deleted after use.
• 🗑️ Remnants of remote applications are fragments of data from programs you have long since uninstalled, but their tails are still in your memory.
• 🔄 System logs and dumps are error report files that MIUI creates for diagnostic purposes (e.g., after a crash).
• 📄 Hidden user files are downloads from instant messengers, temporary copies of documents, or archives that do not make it to the main folders.
• 🖥️ Update files are firmware or update packets that the system downloaded but did not delete after installation.

Why is this section growing to an incredible size?

1. Aggressive caching in MIUI: The system actively reserves space for temporary files to speed up the launch of applications, but rarely cleans them automatically.
2. Incorrect uninstallation: Many apps (especially games) leave up to 1-2 GB of junk in /Android/data or /Android/obb folders.
3. Classification errors: sometimes MIUI mistakenly refers to legitimate data as “other files”, such as downloaded maps for offline navigation.

Fun fact: On some Xiaomi models (e.g. Redmi Note 12 Pro+ or POCO F5), the “Other Files” section can take up to 30-40% of the total memory if the user actively installs and removes applications, and does not follow the cache.

How to check what exactly occupies space in the “Other Files” section

Before you start cleaning, you need to understand what you're dealing with, and the built-in MIUI tools only give you surface information, so you'll have to use additional methods.

Method 1: Built-in storage analyzer

The easiest way is to go to the storage settings:

1. Open the Settings → Memory.
2. Slip to the "Other Files" section.
3. The system will show the distribution by categories: “Cash”, “Downloads”, “Other”.

However, this method does not work on all versions of MIUI. For example, on Xiaomi 13 Ultra with MIUI 14, a section can be displayed as a single block without detail.

Method 2: File Manager with root rights

If you have root access, use Root Explorer or Solid Explorer for in-depth analysis.

• 🔍 Check folders: /data/data — this is where application data is stored; /Android/obb — cache of games and heavy applications; /data/log — system logs; /data/local/tmp — temporary files.

💡

If you don’t have root rights but want to see hidden files, connect your smartphone to your PC and use DiskInternals Linux Reader, which will show you the memory structure without the need to unlock the bootloader.

Method 3: Third-party analyzers (without root)

Apps like Files by Google, SD Maid, or Storage Analyzer can scan memory and identify the biggest space eaters, such as SD Maid finds:

• 🗃️ Empty folders;
• 🧹 Residual files after uninstallation
• 📊 Duplicate documents;
• 🔗 Broken symbolic references.

Important: Some analyzers may show false positives, such as cache files from Google Play Services or MIUI System, which are not recommended to be manually deleted!

Safe Ways to Clean “Other Files” on Xiaomi

Now, let's move on to the practice. Below are methods that will help make room without risking the stability of the system. Start with the safest and move to the more radical ones only if the previous ones didn't work.

Method 1: Cleaning the application cache

This is the most innocuous method that can be used regularly:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Select an app (such as Facebook, Telegram, or Google Chrome).
3. Slip "Clear the cache."

For mass cleaning:

1. Go to Settings → Memory → Cleanup.
2. Click “Clean up garbage” (the system itself will determine the files that are safe to delete).

Clear the cache of messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp)|Delete temporary browser files (Chrome, Mi Browser)|Scan folder Downloads to unnecessary files|Clean the cache of games (Call of Duty, PUBG, Genshin Impact)-->

Method 2: Removing Remnants of Remote Applications

After uninstallation, many programs leave their tails in /Android/data and /Android/obb folders to remove:

1. Connect your smartphone to your PC and enable File Transfer (MTP) mode.
2. Open the internal memory folder → Android → data.
3. Delete folders with app names you deleted long ago (e.g. com.tencent.ig for PUBG Mobile).
4. Repeat the same for the /Android/obb folder.

💡

Don't delete the folders of the existing applications! This will cause malfunctions in their work. Before cleaning, check if the program is installed on the device.

Method 3: Manual cleaning of the Download folder

Download folder often becomes a dumping ground for files you downloaded once and forgot.

• 📄 PDF- Documents and Tickets;
• 🎵 Audio files from messengers;
• 📦 Archives (ZIP, RAR);
• 🖼️ Images from social media.

Sort files by date (Last → Old) and delete anything older than 6 months.

Method 4: Cleaning the system’s logs and dumps

If your Xiaomi reboots frequently or issues errors, logs are stored in memory that can be deleted.

1. Install the Logcat Extreme app (requires debugging mode).
2. Run the scan and delete logs older than 30 days.

Without root rights, you can’t delete all logs, but even a partial cleanup will free up to 500MB – 1GB.

What NOT to delete from “other files” (risks and consequences)

Not all files in this section are harmless, some of which can cause critical failures, including the need to flash the device.

💡

If you accidentally delete important system files, try to restore them via fastboot flash or reset to factory settings. But remember, this will lead to loss of user data!

⚠️ Warning: Never delete files with extensions.odex,.apk (outside the folder /data/app),.prop or.rc. These files are critical to Android and MIUI. Their loss can make the smartphone unusable without full flashing.

Advanced methods: cleaning with ADB and TWRP

If the standard methods didn’t work, and the “other files” still take up gigabytes, it’s time to move to advanced tools, which require technical training, but allow you to clean up even data that is not available through a conventional interface.

Method 1: Cleaning through ADB (no root)

Android Debug Bridge (ADB) allows you to delete files that are not available through the file manager, for example, you can clear the cache of all applications at once:

adb shell pm trim-caches 256m

This command will limit the cache of all apps to 256MB. To remove the cache of a particular app (e.g. Google Play Services):

adb shell pm clear com.google.android.gms

To delete system logs:

adb shell rm -rf /data/anr/*


adb shell rm -rf /data/tombstones/*

⚠️ Warning: Commands ADB have superuser power, even without root rights. Misuse can lead to the deletion of critical data. Always check paths before executing commands!

Method 2: Cleaning through TWRP (unlocked bootloader required)

If your Xiaomi has custom TWRP recovery installed, you can manually delete unnecessary files:

1. Boot to TWRP (hold Power + Volume up when turned on).
2. Select Advanced → File Manager.
3. Go to the folders: /data/log; /cache; /data/dalvik-cache (Dalvik cache, you can clear without consequences).

Delete unnecessary files and restart.

How to prevent the re-accumulation of “other files”

Cleaning up your memory is only half the battle, so that the other files don't grow back, follow these guidelines:

• 🔄 Regular cache cleanup: Set up automatic cleanup in Settings → Memory → Autoclean (available on MIUI 12 and later).
• 🚫 Background activity restriction: In application settings, turn off background work for programs that actively cache data (e.g. Facebook, TikTok).
• 📥 Download control: Use separate download folders from messengers and browsers to avoid mixing files.
• 🔍 Storage Monitoring: Install Storage Analyzer and set up notifications when you exceed the limit of "other files."
• 📦 Cloud Services: Move rarely used files to Google Drive or Mi Cloud to avoid clogging internal memory.

On Xiaomi models with support for MicroSD (for example, Redmi Note 11 Pro+), you can transfer some applications to the memory card.

1. Insert MicroSD (A2 or UHS-I class is recommended).
2. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
3. Select the app and tap "Move to" SD-map».

💡

Even if you transfer the application to the SD- card, some of the data (cache, settings) will remain in the internal memory. For complete cleaning, use a combination of methods: transfer + manual cleaning of residues.

Frequent cleaning errors and how to avoid them

Many users make mistakes in their attempts to make room, which only make the problem worse, and here are the most common ones and how to avoid them:

1. Delete files without backup: Before mass cleaning, copy important data to your PC or the cloud. For example, the /DCIM/.thumbnails folder contains thumbnails of photos - deleting it is not critical, but can slow down the gallery.
2. Using aggressive algorithms: Applications like Clean Master or CCleaner often delete files needed to run MIUI, for example, they can erase the MIUI Launcher cache, which will cause a crash in the home screen.
3. Clean /data/dalvik-cache folder without rebooting: This folder contains optimized versions of Dalvik/ART apps. Once cleaned, be sure to restart your smartphone, otherwise the apps will run slower.
4. Delete.odex and.oat files: These are performance optimization files, and deleting them will force the system to recompile applications the next time it runs, which will take time and resources.
5. Ignoring MIUI Updates: Newer firmware versions often fix memory management errors. For example, MIUI 14 has improved the cache clearing algorithm over MIUI 12.

⚠️ Warning: If after cleaning the smartphone started to brake or overheat, it may mean that you deleted the files necessary to work MIUI.

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions About “Other Files” on Xiaomi