How to delete other files on Xiaomi Redmi 8: Full Guide

Owners of budget and mid-budget smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi 8 often face a critical shortage of internal memory.The Android system over time acquires temporary data, remnants of remote applications and a messenger cache that can take up gigabytes. In standard storage, this is displayed as a mysterious category of “Others”, which does not lend itself to simple sorting or quick removal through regular funds.

The bloated Other folder can take up to 10-15 GB, which significantly reduces the speed of the device and prevents the installation of new programs. Cleaning this data requires not only deleting files, but understanding the structure of the MIUI file system. In this article, we will discuss safe and advanced methods of freeing up space that will help return your gadget to its previous speed without losing important photos or contacts.

Before we start taking any drastic measures, it's important to understand what's behind this term, most often temporary update files, application logs and social media cache. The phone's system memory must remain free for the operating system to function properly, otherwise the device will start to run slowly and freeze. Let's look at a step-by-step algorithm for effective cleaning.

Analysis of the occupied space through standard means

The first step is always to diagnose. You don't have to delete files right away, you have to figure out what's taking up space. The MIUI Explorer tool in the shell provides basic but useful information about memory allocation. Go to the storage settings to see the visualization of the occupied space.

Note the Cleanup section that the system automatically offers. Often memory analysis algorithms find old screenshots, duplicate photos, and unused APK installation packages. However, a standard analyzer may miss the application deep cache, which forms the Others category.

For a more detailed view, use the built-in size sorting functionality to identify heavyweights, the apps that consume the most resources, and junk files are often hidden in the directories of popular messengers and browsers.

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Standard cleaning removes only surface debris, leaving the application's deep cache intact.

• 📱 Go to "Settings» → «The phone» → «Warehouse” for general review.
• 📂 Use the Explorer app to manually search for folders larger than 1GB.
• 🗑️ Click “Clean” in the security menu to remove temporary system files.
• 📊 Check the Apps tab to find programs with a lot of data.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from Android system folders and MIUI manually through a conductor if you are not sure of their purpose, this can lead to incorrect interface operation or loss of application data.

Working with DCIM folder and multimedia cache

The bulk of the Others category on Xiaomi Redmi 8 is often generated by media files that the system does not recognize as standard photos or videos, which can be files corrupted during transmission, or hidden thumbnails. DCIM folder and its subdirectories require special attention.

Within the DCIM/.thumbnails directory, gigabytes of thumbnails can accumulate, which the system creates for a quick view of the gallery. Deleting the contents of this folder is safe - the system will automatically recreate the necessary thumbnails the next time the gallery opens, but this will free up a significant space.

It's also worth checking the folders of instant messengers like Telegram and WhatsApp. They often store the videos and documents they've viewed in shared folders that are classified as "Others." The media files in the chat cache are the first thing to clear for quick results.

To access hidden files, you need to activate the appropriate option in the Explorer menu. Click on the menu (three dots) and select Settings, then turn on the "Show hidden files" switch. After that, you can see the folders starting from a dot and clear their contents.

Cleaning the cache of applications and residual files

Apps create temporary files to speed up content loading, and over time, this app cache grows and becomes no longer useful, turning into ballast, and unlike user data, cache can be deleted without fear of losing logins or game progress.

To clear the cache of a particular application, go to Settings → Apps → All Apps. Select the program you want (like YouTube or Chrome) and click Memory. Here you will see the Clear Cache button. It is important not to confuse it with the Clear All button, which will delete the authorization data.

Residual files after deleting programs are another cause of memory bloating, and even after uninstallation, applications can leave folders with settings and logs at the root of internal memory, and use file managers to find folders with remote program names.

Regularly review installed applications, and if you haven't used the program for more than a month, it's best to remove it, and the background processes of remote but not fully cleaned applications can consume resources and space.

• 🧹 Clear the browser cache through its settings, not just through the task manager.
• 📱 Remove the cache of heavy apps (Instagram, TikTok) once a week.
• 🔍 Look for folders with names of remote programs in the root directory.
• ⚙️ Use the Deep Cleanup feature in Xiaomi’s Security app.

⚠️ Note: Clearing the data (not cache) in the applications of banks or messengers will result in the logout.

Using a computer and ADB for deep cleaning

If standard methods don't work, you can connect to your computer, and by connecting Xiaomi Redmi 8 to USB in file transfer mode (MTP), you can access the file system as an external drive, and you can use powerful PC tools to analyze it.

For advanced users, the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool is available, which can remove system debris and cache that is not available to the average user, and you need to enable debugging via USB in the Developer menu.

The command to clear the cache through ADB is as follows: Connect the phone, open the command line on the PC and type in:

adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999

This command forcibly cuts the cache of all applications to the lowest possible value, and be careful that once it is executed, applications can load a little longer on their first run, because they will have to re-cache.

It is also convenient to delete large video files from WhatsApp/Media or Telegram/Telegram Video folders via your computer. On a large monitor screen, it is easier to navigate the folder structure and highlight the unnecessary.

Third-party utilities for disk space analysis

Sometimes embedded tools can't tell the whole story, and in those cases, specialized analytics apps like DiskUsage or Files by Google come to the rescue, and they build a visual memory card that shows the largest files and folders in blocks.

DiskUsage is particularly useful because it shows folder nesting, and you can see that the Other folder is bloated, for example, because of Spotify cache or offline navigator maps, and it allows you to pinpoint the culprit for the space shortage.

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Use Files by Google to find duplicate files and large videos you forgot to delete.It's safe and doesn't contain intrusive ads.

But you have to be careful when installing third-party clinders, and many of them consume resources and display ads themselves, and you'd better use time-tested open-source tools or from big developers.

After analyzing with third-party software, be sure to remove the analyzer itself if you no longer need it, so as not to clog the memory again.

• 📊 DiskUsage is the best tool to visualize memory structure.
• 🗑️ Files by Google – a safe tool for finding garbage and duplicates.
• 🚫 Avoid “accelerators” with questionable reputations from top search list.
• 🔄 Remove the analysis tools immediately after use.

⚠️ Note: Some client applications require enhanced access rights. Do not grant root rights to questionable programs, this may compromett the security of your personal data.

Radical measures: reset to factory settings

If none of the methods helped to free up space and the Others category continues to grow, it is possible that there were errors in the file system or a critical amount of system debris accumulated, in which case the most effective solution is a complete reset.

Hard Reset completely cleans the phone’s internal memory, returning it to a store-like state, guaranteed to delete all “other” files, but also delete your contacts, photos and apps.

Before you reset, make sure to back up your data in the Mi Cloud or on your computer. Without a backup, you risk losing all important information without the possibility of recovery.

To perform the reset, go to Settings → About Phone → Settings Reset → Erase All Data. The process will take a few minutes, after which the phone will restart clean. This often solves not only the memory problem, but also software glitches.

Preventing memory overflow in the future

To prevent the problem of "other files" from returning in a month, you need to develop a habit of monitoring your memory, and regular prevention takes a couple of minutes a week, but saves you from the need for emergency cleaning.

Set up automatic cleaning in messengers. Telegram and WhatsApp can set a limit on the shelf life of media files in the cache, for example, delete videos older than 3 days automatically.

Use cloud storage for photos and videos. Services like Google Photos allow you to free up space on your device by removing images that have already been uploaded to the cloud. Automatic synchronization is the best friend of a smartphone owner with a small amount of memory.

• ☁️ Enable autodelete the cache in the Telegram settings (Data and memory).
• 📸 Configure Google Photos to free up space after downloading.
• 📉 Check the storage regularly (once a month) manually.
• 🚫 Turn off autoloading videos on social media.