How to delete files in the 'Other' section on Xiaomi Redmi 9

The situation when the storage of a smartphone suddenly overflows with a mysterious “Other” section is familiar to many owners of Xiaomi Redmi 9. You try to take a photo or download an important document, but the system reports a lack of space, although at first glance there is free space. This section often takes gigabytes, and standard cleaning methods do not give a tangible result, causing irritation to users.

The problem is that MIUI classifies as “Other” anything that doesn’t fall into the standard categories like Photos, Videos, or Apps, which includes messenger cache, residual files from remote programs, browser time data, and system logs, and understanding the structure of that data is the first step to successfully cleaning your device.

In this article, we will explore proven ways to safely delete redundant files and return precious gigabytes of memory. You will learn to use built-in analyzer tools, manual cleaning through the file manager and specialized commands for deep system diagnostics.

What's in the "Other" section of Redmi 9

Before we take any radical action, we need to understand the nature of the accumulated garbage. In the Android operating system, especially in the MIUI shell, the “Other” folder is a kind of repository for unclassified data. Most often, the lion’s share of the volume is occupied by the cache of social networks such as Telegram or WhatsApp, which store the media files viewed in hidden directories.

There may also be installation packages that didn't automatically delete after updating programs. System processes create temporary files to speed up work, but sometimes forget to delete them, which leads to a proliferation of partitions.

Special attention should be paid to streaming services and online cinemas, if you watched movies offline or listened to music without Wi-Fi, this data could be recorded in “Other”, without regular cleaning, this section can “eat” up to 20-30 GB of usable space, which is critical for budget models with a small amount of internal memory.

⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to manually delete system files with unknown names through root access unless you are sure of their purpose.This can result in a cyclical device reboot or loss of interface functionality.

Use of built-in storage analyzer

The safest and most efficient way to start the fight for space is to use the regular MIUI tool. The system provides a powerful analyzer that can visualize (occupied) space. To start, go to the Settings menu, then select About phone and click on Warehouse.

Here you'll see a color diagram where the "Other" section is highlighted by a separate segment, and clicking on it will prompt you to clear the cache, which is often the basis of this category, but automatic cleaning does not always affect deep folders of messengers, so manual control is required.

Use the Cleanup feature in the Security app, which is pre-installed on all Xiaomi smartphones, which scans your device for advertising debris, residual files, and large video files that may have been lost, and regularly using this tool helps prevent critical memory filling.

Importantly, after cleaning through standard means, the system may not immediately update the information about the free space. Rebooting the device helps to recalculate memory blocks and display current data. If the volume of the Other remains the same after the reboot, then the files are blocked by active processes.

Manual cleaning through the file manager

To clean it deeper, you'll need to access the file system through standard Explorer or a third-party file manager, like Total Commander or Files by Google. First of all, we're interested in the Android folder where the application data is stored. The path usually looks like this: Internal memory → Android → data.

Inside the data folder, look for directories with messenger names (e.g. com.whatsapp or org.telegram.messenger), which often contain cache or media subfolders containing the images and videos viewed, and are the ones that inflate the "Other" section.

Also check the root directory of internal memory for folders with names of remote games or applications. Sometimes after uninstallation of the program, its folder with settings and cache remains dead weight. Deletion of such folders is safe and frees up space.

When working with a file system, be careful about file extensions. Files with the.tmp or.log extension in application root folders can usually be deleted. However, you should not touch files with the.db (database) or.xml (configuration) extensions unless absolutely necessary, as this can reset application settings.

Cleaning the cache of messengers and social networks

Messengers are the main culprits behind Redmi 9’s storage overflow. Telegram, for example, caches all media files viewed by default so that they load instantly when you reopen the chat. Over time, this cache can reach tens of gigabytes, showing up in the system as “Other”.

To clean up, go to the settings of the Telegram app itself, go to Data and Memory → Memory Use. Here you will see the "Clear Cache" button. Press it boldly, your correspondence and important photos will not disappear, they will simply be removed from the phone's temporary storage and rebooted from the cloud if necessary.

WhatsApp is similar, but it's a nuance: Data and Storage settings → Storage management, you can select specific chats and delete only large files from them, which allows you to save text history, but remove the heavy videos that often take up space.

⚠️ Note: Clearing the cache in the application settings is safe. However, deleting the messenger folders through the file manager can lead to a complete loss of correspondence history if no backup was made.

And remember, Viber and Instagram. These apps also use local storage, you can clear your search cache in Instagram, and you can delete your downloaded files in Viber, and you can control those settings regularly, and you don't have to look for where your memory is gone.

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Turn on the “Auto-Delete Media” feature in Telegram settings. Set a timer for 3 days or a week, this will automatically free up space from old files that you have already viewed.

Delete hidden system files and logs

Sometimes the Other section grows due to system errors or debugging logs. On Xiaomi Redmi 9, you can use the developer mode for a more subtle setup, but be careful. Go to Settings → About phone and quickly click 7 times on the MIUI version to activate the developer menu.

The developer menu (Section Additional → For Developers) contains the option “Don’t keep activities”, but it is better not to touch it unnecessarily. A safer method is to clean the cache of Google Play services. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, find Google Play Services and click “Clear Cache”.

It's also worth checking the MIUI folder in the internal storage, which may have backups of themes, ringtones, or logs, and the.bak files in this folder are often old backups of settings that you don't need anymore.

There is also a method of cleaning through ADB (Android Debug Bridge) from a computer, but it requires a PC and basic command line knowledge. The adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999 command allows you to forcibly trim the cache of all applications to a minimum. However, for the average user, this method can be redundant and risky.

Comparison of Memory Cleaning Methods

To make it easier for you to choose the right method, we have prepared a comparative table of methods, each of which has its own advantages and risks, depending on your technical background and goals.

As you can see from the table, the combination of clearing messenger cache and manually checking files gives the best balance between security and outcome. Radical measures such as a full reset should only be applied in extreme cases when the system is unstable.

Remember, memory fragmentation on Android is different than on a PC. Frequently deleting and writing files can slow down the drive, so a preventive cleaning once a month is more useful than fighting overflow once a year.

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The best strategy is to clean up the messenger cache weekly and analyze large files monthly through the built-in MIUI tool.

Radical measures: resetting and formatting

If none of the above methods worked, and the Other section continues to take up an absurd amount (e.g., 50GB on a 64GB phone), it is possible that the file system is corrupted, in which case the only way out is a complete reset.

Before the procedure, be sure to back up your important data to the Google Drive cloud or your computer. Go to Settings → About Phone → Reset → Erase all data. This will put the phone back out of the box.

After reset, don't restore the backup of the applications immediately. Install the system clean, check the volume of the "Other" partition. If it is minimal (1-2 GB), then the problem was the software failure of one of the applications. Install the programs one by one, watching the memory response.

⚠️ Note: Full reset deletes ALL data, including photos, contacts and messages, if they are not synced with your Google account.

In rare cases, the problem may be hardware, such as flash memory degradation, and if even after a reset, the Other partition grows rapidly, it is possible that the phone's memory controller is faulty and displays or writes data incorrectly, in which case only a replacement of the storage device at the service center will help.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)