Where does memory disappear on Xiaomi Redmi: hidden “eaters” of the place and how to deal with them

You regularly delete photos, clear cache, but the space on Xiaomi Redmi still melts like snow in the sun? This problem is familiar to most owners of the brand’s smartphones – especially the Redmi Note 12/11/10, Redmi 13C or POCO X5. Even with 128 GB of memory, users face a notification “Not enough space”, although, it would seem, nothing superfluous on the phone.

It's not just your files that are to blame. MIUI It actively reserves memory for its needs, and some applications skillfully mask junk data. For example, the cache of Google Play Services can take up to a few hours. 5 GB, and a folder. MIUI/Backup — We've been storing duplicates of photos for years. 7 The main reasons why Xiaomi memory is “disappearing” and have collected working ways to return it – from basic to advanced (including the first one). ADB-Teams for experienced users).

Important: if your Redmi suddenly lost 10-20 GB per night, it is not a virus, but a feature of the dynamic memory distribution in MIUI.

1. App cache: why "Clean" in settings doesn't help

The first thing that comes to mind when you don't have enough memory is to go to Settings → Apps → App Management and click "Clear Cache." But after a day or two, Google Play Services, MIUI Gallery or Facebook is back in the top. What's the catch?

The fact is that MIUI only clears the cache part, which it considers "safe."

• 📱 Google Play Services stores up to 2-3 GB of data to speed up Google services (maps, geolocation, push notifications.
• 🖼️ gallery MIUI It creates thumbnails for every photo and video you've taken down, even those you've deleted, which are small in size, but can add up to 1-2 GB.
• 🎮 Games (such as Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile) cache resources in a hidden folder. Android/obb. You can delete them only through a file manager with root rights.

How to clean the cache for real:

1. Use third-party utilities like SD Maid or Files by Google – they see more garbage than a standard MIUI cleaner.
2. For Google Play Services, disable auto-update in Settings → Apps → Google Play Services → More → Auto-Update.
3. To remove gallery thumbnails, go to Settings → Storage → Files → Images and select “Delete thumbnails”.

2. Hidden MIUI folders: where the system hides your gigabytes

MIUI creates dozens of hidden folders that the user doesn't even know about, like a MIUI/Backup folder that can weigh 5 to 10 GB, storing backups of apps you deleted long ago, and a MIUI/Camera folder that duplicates all photos in.thumbdata format — even if you've turned off the backup.

Here are the main memory eaters in MIUI:

To see the hidden folders:

1. Connect your phone to your PC and enable USB Debugging in Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times).
2. Use Total Commander or FX File Explorer with root permissions (if any).
3. Manually check the folders /storage/emulated/0/MIUI and /storage/emulated/0/Android.

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If you don’t want to dig into folders, install Storage Analyzer – it visualizes which files take up the most space, including hidden ones.

3 MIUI Updates: Why They Are Eating Memory and How to Stop It

Every update MIUI weight 1,5 before 3 GB -- and this is just an installation package, but it also backs up the current firmware (update.zip) And it caches files to roll back, and it results in an upgrade to MIUI 15 You can lose before 5–7 GB memory.

MIUI Never deletes old service packs automatically – they are in the folder /cache and /data/ota_package For example, on the Redmi Note. 11 After a year of use, you can find 10 GB of garbage from old firmware.

How to make room after updates:

• 🔄 Remove old service packs through Settings → Warehouse → Cleanup → Update files.
• 🗑️ Manually check the folder. /cache (need root or ADB).
• 🚫 Turn off automatic update downloads in Settings → The phone. → Updating the system → Settings (⚙️) → Downloading.

4.Duplicate photos: how MIUI Gallery multiplies your photos

The MIUI Gallery app is known for creating duplicate photos in three cases:

1. When editing (the source is saved in the folder MIUI/Camera/Edited).
2. When backing up to Mi Cloud (miniatures are stored locally).
3. When using the Clone or Document functions (the images are duplicated in Pictures/Screenshots).

How to find and remove duplicates:

• 🔍 Use applications like Duplicate Files Fixer or Files by Google (Clean up section»).
• 📁 Manually check the folders: DCIM/Camera — original; MIUI/Camera/Edited — edited; Pictures/Screenshots — screenshots and clones; MIUI/Backup/Photo — backup.
• ☁️ Turn off automatic backup in Mi Cloud if you don’t use it.

Enable the display of hidden files in the file manager|Check the folder. MIUI/Camera/Edited|Remove old screenshots from Pictures/Screenshots|Clear the gallery cache in Settings → Annexes|Turn off auto-reservation in Mi Cloud-->

5. Invisible applications: what takes up memory without your knowledge

Xiaomi Redmi has dozens of system applications that cannot be removed but that actively consume memory.

• 🎵 Music (MIUI Music Player – caches album covers and uploads metadata even if you don’t listen to music.
• 📰 Browser – stores the cache of web pages and downloads in /Android/data/com.android.browser.
• 📡 Mi Video – Downloads Previews for Recommended Videos.
• 🤖 Security – Stores scan logs and antivirus cache.

How to reduce their appetite:

1. Turn off auto-update for system applications in Google Play → Settings → Auto-update apps.
2. Limit background activity: Settings → Applications → Application Management → Battery saver → Limit background activity.
3. For Mi Video and Music, turn off “Recommendations” in the app settings.
4. Use ADB to deactivate unnecessary services (PC required). For example, to disable Mi Music, do: adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.miui.player

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Even disabled system applications can take up memory if their data is not cleared. Always delete cache and data after deactivation.

6.Temporary files and garbage from messengers

Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber are the main scavengers on Xiaomi, which download media files in the background and store them in the Android/media folder, for example, Telegram by default caches all photos and videos, even if you did not open them.

How to clean messengers:

• 📥 In Telegram: Settings → Data and memory → Warehouse → Clear the cache.
• 💬 On WhatsApp: Settings → Memory. → Memory management (you can delete files by category).
• 🗑️ Manually delete the folders: Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media; Android/media/org.telegram.messenger/telegram.
• 🚫 Turn off auto-download media in the settings of each messenger.

Tip: Use the Easy Mode feature in MIUI Security (Settings → Applications → Cleanup → Easy Mode) – it automatically deletes old files from messengers.

7 Dynamic Memory Distribution: Why MIUI is Stealing Gigabytes

Dynamic Partition in MIUI automatically reserves some of the memory for system needs. For example, on the Redmi Note 12 with 128 GB, the system can “take” up to 10-15 GB for:

• 🔄 RAM extensions (if the mode is enabled) RAM Boost);
• 📦 Virtual memory (swap file swap);
• 🔄 Buffers for updates (so that the firmware installation does not fail).

This memory cannot be released in standard ways, but it is possible to reduce the reserve:

1. Turn off RAM Boost in Settings → Additional → RAM Extension.
2. Reduce the size of the paging file via ADB: adb shell su -c "echo 1024 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness" (root rights required).
3. Check the actual memory allocation via ADB: adb shell df -h (look for lines with /data and /system).

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If your Redmi is 110GB out of 128GB, don't panic, that's OK. The manufacturers count 1GB = 1,000,000 bytes, and the system is 1,073,741,824 bytes. That's why it's 10-15GB different.

⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to manually resize partitions through ADB or TWRP It can lead to data loss or device blinking. If you're not sure, contact the service center.

FAQ: Frequent questions about memory on Xiaomi Redmi