Owners of the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A smartphone often face an annoying problem: the device’s memory is rapidly filling up, and the lion’s share of it falls on a mysterious section called “Other” in system storage. This partition can take from several gigabytes to tens of gigabytes, which is critical for models with little internal memory. System debris accumulates due to active application work, multimedia caching in messengers and temporary logs of the system that are not deleted automatically.
Users often wonder if it is safe to delete this data without losing personal photos or contacts. The answer is unequivocal: you can, but you need to understand the structure of the garbage accumulation. Unlike standard files that are visible in the gallery, the Other section contains hidden data that requires a specific approach to cleaning. MIUI, the shell of Xiaomi smartphones, has its own features of working with the file system, which we will discuss in detail in this material.
Next, we’ll look at proven space-free techniques that will help your Redmi Note 5A run fast again.You’ll learn how to use built-in tools, third-party file managers, and even the computer’s deep-cleaning capabilities.Caution: Some techniques require care not to delete system-critical files necessary for Android to function properly.
The Nature of the Other Section in Xiaomi’s Storage
The Other section is not a single file, but a collection of disparate data that the system cannot classify as images, music or videos, primarily the app cache. Social networks like Telegram or WhatsApp store the videos and images viewed in hidden folders to speed up their re-upload, and over time this data grows to huge sizes.
And then there's residual files from games and programs that have been deleted long ago. When you delete an app in the standard way, many folders with their settings and time data are left dead weight, and logs of system errors and Google Play Services work that can take up a lot of space.
⚠️ Note: Not all files in the Other section are garbage, but may contain important databases of applications, game saves, or offline navigator maps, and blindly deleting system folders can cause programs to malfunction.
Understanding what exactly takes up space is key to successful cleaning. Often users are unaware that short videos viewed in the chat take up gigabytes of disk space. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A, with modest characteristics by modern standards, is especially sensitive to overflow of the system partition, which can cause interface lags.
Use of the built-in “Cleanup” application
The safest and first step for a Xiaomi owner is to use a regular optimization tool. Security is already built into MIUI firmware and has access to the necessary system permissions. To get started, open the app menu and find the green shield icon.
Inside the app, select "Clean Up" and the system will analyze the device and suggest that you delete temporary files. However, standard cleaning is often superficial. For a deeper analysis, click on the "Clean Up" button next to "Junk" and then go to the "Deep Clean" section, where you can find large files and duplicate photos.
☑️ Checking before cleaning
Deep Cleaning allows you to see files that are normally hidden from the user's eyes. You can sort them by size and date. It's important to look carefully at the path to the file before you delete. If you see files with the.apk extension that you don't recognize, or logs with the.log extension in the folders of old applications, you can safely delete them.
Once the procedure is complete, it is recommended to restart the device, which will allow the Android system to recalculate the file index and correctly display the vacant space in the storage settings, sometimes changes take effect only after restart.
Manual cleaning through the file manager
For those who want to gain full control of the file system, the manual method is fine. You will need a file manager. The Redmi Note 5A has Xiaomi's Explorer installed by default, but for more advanced work, you'd better download File Manager+ or use Google Files from the Play Market store.
Open the file manager and go to the internal storage. You need to find the Android folder, then the data. This is where most applications store data. Look for folders with messenger names (like com.whatsapp or com.tencent.mm), which often have cache or temp folders inside them.
Deleting the contents of these folders is safe for the application to work, but it can cause contact avatars or previously uploaded images to have to be re-downloaded, which is the cache that inflates the "Other" section.
| Type of folder | Location. | Can I remove it? | Effects of consequences |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cache | Android/data/[app]/cache | Yes. | The application will download the data again |
| Temp | Android/data/[app]/temp | Yes. | Secure, temporary files. |
| Log | Different directories | Yes. | Removal of error logs |
| Database | Android/data/[app]/databases | No. | Loss of correspondence and settings |
You should also pay attention to the folder. MIUI It could be in the back of the vault. debug_log, If you're not a developer and you're not debugging the firmware, you can delete the contents of that folder painlessly, freeing up hundreds of megabytes.
Cleaning the cache of messengers and social networks
Special attention deserve messengers, as they are the main generators of garbage on Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A. Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber and VKontakte store media files in their internal databases, which the system sees as “Other”. Simply remove the application is often not enough, as when re-installed and authorized cache can pull up from the cloud or backup.
Consider the example of Telegram. Go to the app settings, select Data and Memory, then Memory Use. There you will see the Clear Cache button. Deleting the cache on Telegram does not affect your correspondence and the files you send, they are stored on the server. You just free up space on the phone, and the media will be reloaded as needed.
WhatsApp is more complicated. There's no cloud cache in the same way. To clear the space, you need to go to Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. Here you can select the chat rooms that occupy the most space and delete the transferred files selectively, which is more effective than a complete cleanup.
Social networks like Instagram and Facebook are also aggressively cacheing feeds, and in the settings of these apps (under the Apps section of the phone menu), you can find the Clear Cache button. Don't confuse it with the Clear Data button, the last action will reset the app to the initial installation state, and you will have to re-enter your login and password.
Using a computer for deep cleaning
If you can't get the space out of the built-in, you'll get a computer to help you. 5A PC-only USB-In the notification on the phone screen, select the file transfer mode (MTP). On the computer will open a window conductor with smartphone files.
This method allows you to see the structure of files more clearly and use powerful disk analysis tools like WinDirStat or TreeSize Free, which build a visual map of the disk, showing which files occupy the most space, and you can detect forgotten videos, archives or system dumps that are not visible through the phone.
Find an Android folder and analyze its contents, and check the root folders for files with names like tombstones or logcat, which can be easily deleted, and the computer allows you to tag and delete large groups of files faster than you can do it with your finger on a smartphone screen.
⚠️ Warning: When connecting to your computer, be careful about system folders that don't have an extension or have strange names. Only delete the one you're 100 sure of%.
After cleaning the computer, be sure to safely remove the device before disabling the cable, which will prevent possible file system errors and data loss. Android file system is sensitive to sudden connection breaks when writing.
Radical measures: Resetting to factory settings
If the Other section has grown to critical size and no methods are helping, the last measure is a complete reset.This action will return the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A to the state of the box. All user data, applications and settings will be destroyed, so pre-backup is mandatory.
Before you start, make sure that your battery is at least 50%. Go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Restore and Reset. Select Settings Reset. The system will alert you to data loss. Confirm the action and wait for the process to complete.
What if the phone doesn’t turn on after resetting?
Once you boot, you get a clean system where the Other partition is as small as possible, and this often solves problems not only with memory, but also with the speed of the device as a whole, but it's a temporary solution: if you don't change your usage habits, junk files will start to accumulate again.
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A complete reset is a way to remove system debris, but it takes time to recover data and reset the phone.
Prevention of memory overflow
To keep the problem from returning in a month, you need to implement a few habits: first, check the storage regularly (once a week), second, set up automatic cache cleaning in applications, if such a feature is available, and third, use cloud storage for photos and videos, deleting local copies of them.
Turn off autoloading media files in instant messengers. Telegram and WhatsApp can prevent saving photos and videos to the phone gallery. They will be available inside the chat, but will not take up space in the shared storage and duplicate in the system indexes.
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Use the Cleanup feature in the Security app immediately after installing major games or system updates to remove installation packages and temporary files.
Also watch for updates to MIUI. Sometimes new firmware versions fix bugs that lead to incorrect calculation of space or memory leaks. The current version of the software is the key to stable operation of the Redmi Note 5A.