Owners of the popular Xiaomi Redmi 5 smartphones often face the unpleasant situation when internal storage is overflowing with the mysterious category “Others”, a problem especially relevant for a model with a storage capacity of 16 or 32 gigabytes, where every megabyte counts. Android system and the MIUI shell over time accumulate a huge amount of temporary data, which is difficult to remove by standard methods.
Understanding what’s behind this label is the first step to successfully cleaning a device, usually hiding app cache, remnants of deleted programs, temporary messenger files and system logs, and if you don’t do regular revisions, the smartphone starts to run slower, and notifications of space shortages appear at the most inopportune moment.
In this article, we will discuss in detail how to free up space safely and efficiently, and how to use built-in analyzer tools, work with a file manager, and apply advanced cleaning techniques without risking damaging important system data.
Analysis of the contents of the folder Others
Before we take any drastic measures, we need to understand the nature of junk files. The Others category in MIUI is a collection of data that the system cannot automatically classify as photos, videos, music or documents, most often a cache of streaming services like YouTube or Spotify that grows to gigabytes.
Also, a significant part of the volume is occupied by the files of updates to the operating system, which were not deleted after a successful installation. Xiaomi Redmi 5, released several years ago, can store error logs and reports on the operation of applications that the average user does not need. Without special analysis, it is impossible to say exactly which type of data takes up the most space.
⚠️ Warning: Before manually deleting files, be sure to check their contents. Deleting system libraries can lead to incorrect interface operation or a cyclical reboot of the smartphone.
To begin with, you can use a built-in diagnostic tool to help you understand the location, but it doesn't always give you a detailed breakdown of the folders, and it helps you understand the scale of the problem, whether it's a single app cache or a total accumulation of small debris.
Use of built-in storage analyzer
The safest and most recommended way to clean up is to use the regular Security app. In Xiaomi Redmi 5, this tool is deeply integrated into the system, allowing it to see more data than third-party programs. To get started, open the app menu and find the icon with the shield.
Inside the app, go to Cleanup or Analyzer. The system will scan and suggest removing obvious debris: advertising files, remnants of deleted applications and temporary installation packages. Pressing the cleanup button in this menu often frees up 500 MB to 2 GB of space.
Then you go to Memory Cleanup (or Deep Cleanup), where MIUI algorithms analyze the contents of instant messenger folders, you can see how much space the images and videos take up on WhatsApp or Telegram, and selectively removing heavy files from chat rooms is an effective way to quickly free up space.
☑️ Safe cleaning plan
Importantly, the built-in analyzer doesn't always see all the hidden caches, and some applications, especially social networks, store data in secure directories that are restricted, but for basic prevention, this tool is enough to keep the system on track.
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Use the "Accelerate" function in the Security app before running the memory analysis, which will close the background processes and allow the scanner to work faster and more accurately.
Manual cleaning through the file manager
If the automatic tools didn't solve the problem radically, you'll have to manually clean it. The standard MIUI Explorer allows you to look into hidden folders. To do this, you need to activate the hidden file display in the conductor settings. The path to storage usually looks like /storage/emulated/0/.
First of all, look at the Android/data folder, which stores all the games and heavy apps installed, and you can find folders with names like com.whatsapp or com.spotify.music, and they often have cache or files folder inside them, which has been bloated to incredible sizes.
Be very careful when deleting files in the Android/obb directory. There are game caches. If you delete the contents of this folder, the games will stop running and require re-uploading data, which can take a lot of traffic. Only delete what you are 110% sure of.
| Folder/Directory | What does it contain? | Can I remove it? | Risks. |
|---|---|---|---|
| DCIM/.thumbnails | Photo and video miniatures | Yes (temporary) | The gallery will be creating previews longer |
| MIUI/debug_log | Logs of system debugging | Yes. | No, it's technical junk. |
| Android/data/.../cache | Cache specific applications | Yes. | The application will download the data again |
| Tencent/MicroMsg | WeChat data (if available) | Carefully. | You can lose your correspondence history. |
Another place that is often ignored is the Download folder. Browsers and instant messengers often save APK installation files there after updating programs. These files are no longer needed and take up precious space.
Cleaning the cache of messengers and social networks
The main culprits behind the overflow of the Others category on Xiaomi Redmi 5 are messengers. Telegram, Viber and WhatsApp store every photo and video viewed in the memory of the device. Over time, this collection can reach 5-10 gigabytes, which is critical for a budget smartphone.
Telegram cleans the most convenient way. Go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory usage. There you will see the “Clear Cache” button. You can set up automatic cleansing, for example, delete files older than 3 days or 1 week. This is the only way to ensure that junk files will not accumulate in the future.
WhatsApp is more complicated because the app is less willing to give up file management. The best way to do this is to use the built-in storage management feature: Settings → Data & Storage → Storage Management. Here you can select the chat rooms that occupy the most space and delete media files selectively or (all).
⚠️ Note: Clearing messenger cache does not delete your correspondence and contacts. However, if you manually delete the folder with media files through the explorer, the photos may disappear from the gallery, although they will remain in the chat.
Social networks like VK or Instagram also cache the feeds they've watched, and the app settings themselves often have a "Clear Cache" feature, which if they don't, will require deleting the app's data through Android settings, which will result in logging out and requiring re-authorization.
Why does the cache reappear after cleaning?
Delete residual files after deleting applications
When you delete a game or program on Android, the system often leaves tails behind it, which can be settings, saved profiles or temporary files that the developer did not provide for automatic deletion. On the Xiaomi Redmi 5, with its limited memory, this becomes a serious problem.
To find these files, search the file system. Type the name of the remote game or the developer company in your search for Explorer. Often, folders with names like com.game name remain at the root of internal memory. If you are sure that you have deleted the application, feel free to erase the corresponding folder.
Also worth checking is MIUI/gallery/cloud folder or similar cloud service directories, if you stop using sync, there may be old thumbnails or poorly uploaded original photos, which are safe for the system to delete, but will make room.
Specialized utilities can be used for deeper cleaning, such as SD Maid (manual mode), but on modern Android, their options are limited by access rights. MIUI It is the most reliable method.
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Regular manual search for folders with names of remote applications is the best way to prevent the growth of the Other category.
Cardinal measures: Resetting and formatting
If none of the soft methods worked and the Others category still takes up the lion’s share of memory, it’s possible that the file system is corrupted or has accumulated indexing errors. In this case, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 can help formatting the internal drive.
Before this step, make sure to make a full backup of all important data to your computer or the cloud. Formatting will destroy all information without recovery. Go to Settings → About Phone → Storage and find the formatting point (may be called Internal Drive).
In the extreme case, when the system is unstable, a full reset to factory settings (Hard Reset) helps.This will return the phone to the “out of the box” state by removing all user debris, viruses and registry errors. Way: Settings → Advanced Settings → Recovery and Reset → Reset.
⚠️ Warning: Full reset will delete all Google and Mi Account accounts. Make sure you remember login passwords, otherwise activation of the phone after reset will not be possible (protection) FRP).
After reset, take your time to install all the applications at once, and watch the memory fill up in its clean state, which will help you see if the particular application you install in the first place is causing the overflow.