How to recover remote music on Xiaomi smartphone: the complete guide

Losing your favorite music tracks on a Xiaomi smartphone is a nasty situation that many users face. The reasons can be different: accidental deletion, factory reset, file system damage, or even a viral attack. Fortunately, in most cases, music can be restored — the main thing is to act quickly and correctly.

In this article, we’ll look at all the ways you can recover deleted audio files on Redmi, POCO and Mi devices, from standard MIUI tools to specialized programs, learn how to work with backups, cloud storage and even low-level data recovery, and if the music is lost after a system update, we’ll show you how to return it without losing other files.

Importantly, the less you use your smartphone after deleting files, the better the chances of successful recovery, and each new record of data (photos, videos, app installation) can overwrite deleted tracks.

1. Checking the basket and hidden folders

Before you start complex manipulations, make sure the music is actually deleted. MIUI has a built-in bin where files are stored for up to 30 days and some audio players create their own backups.

Where to look:

• 📁 Basket MIUI: Open the Files application → Categories → The basket, there may be some deleted tracks left.
• 🎵 Player folder: Many apps (such as Mi Music or Google Play Music) save cache to the player /Android/data/com.miui.player/ or /Android/media/.
• 🔍 Hidden Files: Enable the Display of Hidden Folders in Files (Three Dots) → Settings → Look for folders with names like.nomedia,.music_backup.

If you use third-party players (like Poweramp or VLC), check their settings: some programs automatically back up playlists in.m3u or.pls format.

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In MIUI 14+, the Recycle Bin is disabled by default for multimedia files. To enable it, go to Settings → Storage → Recycle Bin → File Types and tick Audio

2.Recovery through MIUI backup

If you’ve ever backed up through Xiaomi’s built-in tools, the chances of returning music are very high.The system saves not only contacts and messages, but also multimedia files (when set up correctly).

How to restore:

1. Open Settings → About Phone → Backup and Reset → Local Backups.
2. Choose the most recent copy (note the date – it must be before the music is deleted).
3. Click Restore and tick Multimedia (or Audio, if any).
4. Confirm the recovery and wait until the process is complete (may take 10-30 minutes).

Important: when you restore from a backup, the current data can be overwritten, if you add new tracks after deleting the music, they will disappear, and we recommend you copy them to your computer beforehand.

3. Use of cloud services

If the music is synced with cloud storage, it can be returned even after a complete reset of the phone. Xiaomi offers its own cloud, but many users prefer Google Drive or Yandex.Disk.

Recovery from Xiaomi Cloud:

• 🌐 Open i.mi.com and log in.
• Go to the Cloud → Music section (or Files → Audio).
• Select the desired tracks and click Download.
• Transfer the files back to your phone via USB or send them to yourself by mail.

Recovery from Google Drive:

• 📱 Open the Google Drive app on your phone.
• Go to Recycle Bin (if files have been recently deleted) or find the Backup folder.
• Look for files with.mp3,.flac,.m4a extensions.
• Click on the track → Restore or Download.

Please note that free cloud service plans store files for a limited time (e.g. Xiaomi Cloud up to 6 months after deletion) If the music is gone long ago, it may not be in the cloud.

4. Programs for Recovery of Deleted Files

If previous methods have not worked, it is time to move to specialized software, for Xiaomi will be suitable for both mobile applications and desktop utilities, the main rule: do not install recovery programs on the same disk where the music was stored (this will reduce the chances of success).

Top.-3 recovery:

• 📱 DiskDigger (Android) - works without root, but with root rights finds more files.
• 💻 Recuva (Windows) is a free, deep-scanning utility. Connect your phone as USB-accumulator.
• 🖥️ EaseUS MobiSaver is a paid but effective multimedia recovery software.

Step-by-step instructions for DiskDigger:

Install the app and give access to the storage |

Select Full Scan (requires root) or Basic |

Check the file types: MP3, WAV, FLAC|

Click Scan and wait for results |

Select the tracks found and click Restore (save on) SD-map)-->

Warning: Avoid programs like Undeleter or GT Recovery, which often contain adware or viruses.

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Without root rights, recovery software will only find files that have not yet been overwritten with new information, and from root, the odds increase to 70-80%.

5. Recovery after reset to factory settings

If the music is lost after Hard Reset, the algorithm of actions depends on whether sync with the Xiaomi or Google account was enabled.

Scenario 1: Synchronization was enabled

• 🔄 Log in to the same Mi Account that was used before the reset.
• Go to Settings → Accounts → Xiaomi → Sync and enable Multimedia.
• Wait 10-15 minutes – the system should start downloading files from the cloud.

Scenario 2: Synchronization disabled

• 🛠️ Connect your phone to your PC and use Recuva or TestDisk to scan your internal memory.
• 🔍 Search files by signature (for example, for MP3 it ID3-tagging).
• 💾 Save the restored tracks to another medium (not your phone!).

⚠️ Warning: After resetting to factory settings, do not update the firmware until file recovery. MIUI can overwrite memory sectors where deleted tracks are stored.

6.If the music is missing after the MIUI update

Updating the system sometimes results in loss of media files due to changes in file structure or firmware errors.

Method 1: Recoil on the previous version of MIUI

• 📥 Download old firmware for your model from Xiaomifirmwareupdater.com.
• 🔧 Go to Settings. → The phone. → Version. MIUI and tap 7 times on the build number to activate Developer Mode.
• 🔄 B Settings → Additionally. → System Update Select Select Firmware File and Specify Downloaded Archive.

Method 2: Recovery through ADB (for advanced users)

adb shell


su




cd /sdcard/




find . -name ".mp3" -o -name ".flac" -o -name "*.m4a" > /sdcard/music_list.txt




exit

This team will create a file. music_list.txt A list of all audio files on the device, including hidden files.

⚠️ Note: Firmware rollback will reset all settings and can lead to data loss if you do not backup in advance. Use this method only if the music is critical.

7.Prevention: How to Avoid Losing Music in the Future

To avoid losing tracks, follow these rules:

• 🔄 Automatic Backup: Enable Backup in Settings → Accounts. → Xiaomi → Backup (select Daily and tick Multimedia).
• ☁️ Cloud sync: Use Google Music or Yandex Music to automatically upload tracks to the cloud.
• 📁 Duplication of files: keep copies of music on the SD-map.
• 🛡️ Virus protection: scan your phone regularly with Mi Security or Malwarebytes.

For supported models OTG (For example, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ Xiaomi 13 Ultra can be used for portable devices SSD-storage.

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Create a.nomedia folder on your phone (with a dot at the beginning) and put your most valuable tracks in it. This folder won't show up in multimedia players, but the files will remain intact during accidental cleanups.

Frequently asked questions