Xiaomi’s Other folder: How to clean and free up space on your phone

Why Xiaomi’s Other folder takes up gigabytes and how to fix it

Have you ever looked into your Xiaomi store and found in horror that the mysterious Other folder is eating 10, 20, or even 30 GB of precious memory? It’s not a system glitch or a virus – this is how Android (especially in the MIUI shell) classifies files that don’t fall into the standard categories (“Photos”, “Video”, “Apps”).

The problem is that MIUI doesn’t provide built-in tools for deep cleaning of Others. Even after using the Cleanup function in the storage settings, the folder can remain crowded. In this article, we’ll discuss methods unique to Xiaomi that will help reduce its size without risking damage to the system, from manual cleaning to hidden commands for the engineering menu.

It's important to understand that some of the files in the Prokhoth can't be deleted, they're critical to Android, but up to 70 percent of the files are usually junk, and our job is to separate the grain from the chaff.

What is stored in the folder “Other” on Xiaomi

Before you clean, you have to understand what we're dealing with. The "Other" folder in MIUI is a prefabricated sodium from:

• 📁 Cache of system applications (e.g. com.miui.system or android.process.media) These files are created automatically and rarely cleared.
• 🗑️ Remnants of remote programs. Even after uninstallation, applications often leave their data in folders. /data/data/ or /sdcard/Android/obb/.
• 🔄 Temporary update files. MIUI Downloads updates in the background and does not always delete them after installation.
• 📱 Logs and dumps: files with extensions like.log,.dumpstate, or.tombstone are error reports that can weigh several gigabytes.
• 🎮 Data from games and heavy applications, such as Genshin Impact cache or PUBG Mobile often gets here.

Interesting fact: some Xiaomi models (such as the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ or POCO F5) may hide duplicate photos created by the MIUI Gallery during editing, these files usually have the suffix edited or filter in the title.

⚠️ Note: Do not attempt to manually delete files from folders /system or /vendor — It can cause a device to fail completely, even with root rights, some operations are dangerous.

Method 1: Clearing the cache of system applications (without root)

Let's start with the safest method that doesn't require superuser rights, and the app cache is like a loft in a house, where, over time, so much of the stuff that's not needed is stored that Android itself doesn't know what to throw away.

To clean it up:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select “Show System Processes”.
3. Sort the list by size (click on "Size").
4. Choose apps with large cache (e.g. Google Play Services, MIUI System, Media Storage) and click Clear Cache.

Pay special attention to these processes:

Once cleaned, reboot the phone to help the system recalculate the space, and sometimes after a reboot, the volume of Other is reduced by 1-3 GB.

💡

If after cleaning the cache, the application began to work unstable (for example, the gallery loads a photo for a long time), just open it and wait for the cache to recover automatically.

Method 2: Delete temporary MIUI update files

Xiaomi likes updates - sometimes too much. Every OTA update (Over-The-Air) downloads to the folder /cache or /data/ota_package And it often stays there even after installation. 500 MB to 3 GB!

To remove them:

Open a file manager (e.g., Mi File Manager)

Enable the display of hidden folders (click on three dots → Settings → Show hidden files)

Go to the folder. /sdcard/MIUI/ota or /data/ota_package

Delete all files with the.zip extension or names like update.zip

Reboot the phone.-->

If the folders /data/ota_package No, try another way:

Settings → About Phone → System Update → Three Points → “Delete the Downloaded Package”

On some firmware (e.g. MIUI 14 for Xiaomi 13), this item may be called “Clear Update Cache.” If it’s not available, use a root file manager (e.g., Root Explorer), but be careful.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete files from the folder /cache/recovery — They're used to restore the system after a crash. last_install or recovery.log.

Method 3: Cleaning Logs and Dumps (for Power Users)

System logs and dumps are like a black box of an airplane, just for your Xiaomi, and they're created when you crash, overheat, or miss an application, and the problem is that MIUI doesn't always delete them, and over time, they can take up to 5 to 10 GB.

To find and remove them:

1. Install a file manager with access to root folders (such as Solid Explorer or FX File Explorer).
2. Go to /data/log or /data/tombstones.
3. Delete all files with extensions:.log (system logs).dumpstate (state dumps).tombstone (app crash reports).anr (freeze logs)

/data/system/dropbox

Google

If you do not have root rights, you can try an alternative method:

Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (click 7 times to turn on Developer Mode)


Return to Settings → “More” → “For Developers”




Find “Error Logs” and click “Clear”

Method 4: Removing Remnants of Remote Applications

When you delete an application through Settings → Applications, MIUI often leaves its data in /data/data/ or /sdcard/Android/obb/ folders. This is especially true for “heavy” programs like Facebook, TikTok or games.

To find and remove this garbage:

• 🔍 Use the app. SD Maid (available on Google Play) scans folders for remnants of deleted programs and suggests that they be cleaned.
• 📂 Manually check the folders: /sdcard/Android/obb/ — This is where game caches are stored (e.g. Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile). /sdcard/Android/data/ — file. /data/data/ — System data (requires root).

Example: After removal PUBG Mobile in a folder /sdcard/Android/obb/com.tencent.ig/ Maybe there's a file. main.1563.com.tencent.ig.obb size 1,5 GB. It's safe to remove.

⚠️ Note: Do not delete the folders of current applications (the ones that are still installed), this can cause crashes, for example, if you delete the content. /sdcard/Android/data/com.whatsapp/, WhatsApp will lose all media files.

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Remnants of remote applications are one of the main sources of garbage in the "Other", and regular cleaning of /obb/ and /data/ folders can free up up to 5-10 GB of space.

Method 5: Reset the partition cache (wipe cache partition)

If previous methods didn’t work, try resetting the recovery partition cache.This won’t delete your data, but will clear temporary system files that can take up several gigabytes.

Instructions:

1. Turn off the phone.
2. Press the buttons Volume up + Power (on some models – Volume up + Volume down + Power).
3. When the MI logo appears, release the buttons and you will be in Recovery mode.
4. Use volume buttons for navigation and power button for selection.
5. Select "Wipe & Reset» → «Wipe Cache».
6. Confirm the action and wait for the completion.
7. Reboot your phone (Reboot → System)

This method is particularly useful if:

• The phone started to slow down after the MIUI update.
• The folder “Other” suddenly grew by several gigabytes.
• Apps started flying out for no apparent reason.

After resetting the partition cache, the first launch of the phone may take longer - that's fine.

Method 6: Advanced ADB Cleaning (for technical users)

If you're willing to dive deeper, you can use ADB (Android Debug Bridge) to clean up system files that are not available through standard settings. This method requires a computer and basic command line knowledge.

Steps:

1. Install ADB and Fastboot Tools on your computer.
2. Turn on USB Debugging on your phone (Settings → About Phone → MIUI version (7 times) → Developer → USB Debugging).
3. Connect the phone to your computer and confirm the debugging permission.
4. Open the command line (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux) and type:

adb shell


su




cd /data/log




rm -rf .log .txt




cd /data/tombstones




rm -rf *




cd /data/system/dropbox




rm -rf *




exit




exit

These commands delete:

• All logs of the system (.log,.txt).
• Error dumps (/data/tombstones)
• Reporting failures (/data/system/dropbox)

⚠️ Attention: Rm teams -rf They delete files irrevocably. If you get the wrong way (e.g., type in rm). -rf /data rm -rf /data/log/*), This can cause data loss or phone failure!

FAQ: Frequent questions about the folder “Other” on Xiaomi