How to delete other files from Xiaomi Redmi 3S

Owners of the popular Xiaomi Redmi 3S smartphone often face an unpleasant problem: the device’s memory is overflowing, and the system storage mysteriously appears the category “Other”, occupying gigabytes of valuable space. This phenomenon is not a bug or a virus, but a accumulation of cache of applications, residual files after deleted programs and temporary messenger data. Cleaning this partition is a task that requires careful attention, since rash actions can lead to the loss of important data or disruption of the system.

Standard cleaning methods, such as simply removing photos or videos, often fail to produce the desired result, since the bulk of the waste is hidden system debris. To effectively free up memory on Redmi 3S, you need to understand the nature of these files and use a comprehensive approach. In this article, we will discuss safe ways to reduce the volume of the Other partition without the need to obtain superuser rights.

Before we start taking drastic measures, it is important to realize that completely removing this category is impossible and unnecessary, because the system must store temporary data somewhere for its operation. However, controlling its volume and regularly cleaning it allows you to keep the device running at a high level. Next, we will look at step-by-step instructions that will help you regain free space.

Memory analysis and search for large files

The first step in the battle for space is to analyze in detail what exactly is taking up storage space. The MIUI shell on Redmi 3S has a powerful memory monitoring tool built in, which users often ignore. Go to the Settings menu, select Memory and wait for the analysis to be completed. The system will show the distribution of space between applications, images, videos and the same category "Other".

It often turns out that the lion’s share of the Other is the data of messengers such as Telegram or Viber, which save the received media files to hidden folders, as well as offline maps of navigators and cache of streaming services, a careful study of the list of applications by the amount of space occupied allows you to identify the main “eaters” of memory.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files with system folders (e.g., android, data, obb) unless you are sure of their purpose. Deleting system caches may cause application settings to reset or malfunction.

For deeper analysis, you can use third-party snails like DiskUsage or Files by Google, which visualize the file system as a diagram, which allows you to literally "see" the largest files and folders, even if they are hidden in the back of the directories, and once you identify large objects, you can decide whether to delete them or transfer them to the memory card.

Cleaning the cache of applications and system debris

The safest and most effective way to reduce the size of the Other partition is to clear the cache of installed applications. Cache is temporary files that speed up programs, but over time can grow to unimaginable sizes. On Xiaomi Redmi 3S, this operation can be performed through the built-in Security application, which automatically scans the device for junk files.

However, standard cleaning often only affects the surface layer of data. For more thorough cleaning, you need to go to the settings of each heavy application separately. Go to Settings → Apps → All applications, select the desired program (for example, a browser or a social network) and click Clear and then Clear the cache. It is important not to confuse this button with the “Clear All” button, which will delete your logins and passwords.

• 🗑️ Clean your browser cache regularly, as it accumulates thumbnails of visited pages and scripts.
• 📱 Check messengers: WhatsApp or Telegram settings have a built-in memory management feature.
• 🔄 Reset the cache of the Google Play Store if it is not working properly or takes up too much space.

There's also a hidden function to clear the cache of all applications right through the engineering menu, but on modern versions of MIUI, it's often locked or hidden. So the manual method through the settings of each application remains the most reliable. After this procedure, you may find that the volume of the Other has decreased by several gigabytes.

Working with DCIM folder and media files

The Other section is often inflated by the photo and video thumbnails the system creates for quick display in the gallery.The.thumbnails folder located along the path of DCIM/.thumbnails can weigh several gigabytes. Deleting the contents of this folder is safe: the system will just create new thumbnails again when you open the gallery, but that will free up space right now.

To access hidden folders, you need to enable the display of hidden files in the standard Explorer. Click three dots in the corner of the screen and select the corresponding menu item. Find the DCIM folder, which may contain a hidden folder with thumbnails. Also check the messenger folders at the root of internal memory, where automatically uploaded images and videos are often stored.

Special attention should be paid to files with the extension.tmp and.log, which can be found in different directories, these files are created by applications during operation and often forgotten by them after tasks are completed, and their removal does not pose any threat to the stability of the Redmi 3S.

⚠️ Note: Before removing the contents of the folder DCIM Make sure you don't delete the originals of your photos. Only delete the contents of the.thumbnails folder or files with incomprehensible extensions.

If you’re actively shooting high-resolution video, check your camera settings. It may make sense to lower the recording quality or set up automatic uploads to cloud storage to free up space on your device immediately after shooting.

Using the Developer Mode to Clean

In the arsenal of advanced Android users, you can access deeper system settings through the developer mode. On Xiaomi Redmi 3S, this allows you to access some system cleaning functions that are hidden in the regular menu. To activate this mode, you need to quickly click on the build number in the About Phone menu seven times.

Once activated, a new Developers Item will appear in the settings menu, and you can find the Do Not Leave Activities option, which helps clear background processes, although this affects RAM more than internal storage. It may be more useful to reset application settings via ADB (Android Debug Bridge) if you connect your smartphone to your computer.

Using the ADB command line, you can execute commands like adb shell pm trim-caches that force the cache of all applications to be deleted, a powerful tool that requires caution.

adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999

This command will attempt to free up a specified number of bytes (in the example, almost 10 GB) by deleting the cache, but on many devices with user rights, this command may not work without root rights, but it is worth trying if other methods are exhausted.

Reset application settings and remove residues

Often, the other section grows with tails from remote games and programs. When you remove an application through the standard interface, its data folder in the Android/data or Android/obb section can stay in place. These files are no longer needed by the system, but continue to take up space.

You need to manually check these directories and delete folders with the names of remote games, and pay attention to apps you haven't used in a long time. Go to Settings → Apps, sort the list by last use, and ruthlessly delete what you haven't used for more than a month.

For some system applications that cannot be removed (such as preinstalled services from Google or Xiaomi), the Clean All feature is available in the app management menu, which will return the program to the “just after installation” state by removing all accumulated data and settings.

• 📂 Check the Download folder – there are often installation files APK, no longer needed.
• 🎮 Remove the remnants of these games from the folder Android/obb.
• 📱 Reset the settings of long-unused system applications.

Regularly doing this kind of "revision" helps keep the system clean, so if you installed a new game and you didn't like it, check right away if there are gigabytes of resources left over.

Radical measures: complete reset (Hard Reset)

If none of the above methods helped significantly reduce the volume of the Other partition, and the system continues to claim that the memory is occupied by unclear things, the last and most effective method is a complete reset to factory settings. This procedure completely removes all user data, applications and settings, returning the Redmi 3S to the “out of the box” state.

Before starting the procedure, it is critical to back up all important data: contacts, photos, documents, reset will delete everything, including the contents of internal memory, and make sure that the battery is at least 50% so that the device does not turn off during the process.

You can reset via the settings menu: Settings → Advanced Settings → Restore and Reset → Reset. Once confirmed, the phone will restart and begin the cleaning process, which can take 5 to 15 minutes.

⚠️ Warning: Once reset, the "Other" section will be minimal (a few hundred megabytes), but it will start to grow again as you use the phone.

This is the only guaranteed way to remove all the system debris that has accumulated over the years of use, and after resetting, you will notice not only the appearance of free space, but also a significant acceleration of the interface.

Preventing memory overflow in the future

To prevent the problem from returning too quickly, you need to change your smartphone usage habits, first of all, set up automatic cache cleaning or install apps that do so in the background. Many antivirus and optimizers have this feature.

The second important aspect is working with messengers: in Telegram settings, for example, you can set automatic deletion of cache (for example, store media files only for 3 days or a week), which will prevent the accumulation of gigabytes of images and videos that you did not even open.

Cloud storage is also worth considering, because services like Google Photos or Yandex.Disk can automatically upload your photos and videos to the cloud, removing a local copy of them from your device, freeing up a huge amount of space for your system and applications.

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Use the “Free Space” feature in the Google Photos app, which automatically finds and prompts you to delete blurry images, screenshots, and large videos that are already stored in the cloud.

Regular monitoring of memory filling is the key to the long life of your Xiaomi Redmi 3S. Do not bring the situation to a critical point when the phone begins to slow down due to lack of space for temporary system files.

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The most effective way to deal with the “Other” section is to combine regular manual cleaning of heavy app cache and setting up automatic media removal in instant messengers.

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