The situation when Xiaomi smartphone suddenly reports a shortage of space is familiar to every user: the screen is full of warnings, applications are slowed down, and built-in analyzers show that the “Other” partition takes up gigabytes, although the gallery is empty. This is not a system error, but a feature of the MIUI or HyperOS shell that aggressively caches data to speed up work.
Users are often lost trying to find the source of the problem using standard methods. It seems like you deleted all the videos, cleaned the downloads, but the occupied space remains the same. System files and residual debris from remote applications create the illusion of full memory, hiding in the depths of the Android file system. Understanding how memory distribution works is the first step to solving the problem.
In this article, we'll explore the real causes of gigabyte extinction, not offering questionable cleaners, but where the real eaters of the place hide, learn how to safely remove hidden debris and prevent the drive from overflowing in the future without losing important data.
System section “Other”: what is hiding Android
The biggest mystery for Redmi and Poco owners is the Other category, and Android groupes all files that it can’t uniquely classify as photos, music or apps, including temporary update files, error logs and remnants of deleted programs.
Often the volume of this section is inflated due to the work of messengers. Telegram and WhatsApp store the received media files in their hidden folders, which the standard conductor does not always correctly display in general statistics.
⚠️ Warning: Do not attempt to delete files from system folders manually through root-righted file managers unless you are sure of their purpose.
To analyze the content of hidden partitions, it's better to use built-in tools or specialized software like DiskUsage, which visualize the folder tree by showing the real weight of each item, which helps to find heavy files that hide deep in the /Android/data directory structure.
.thumbnail folder: an inconspicuous gigabyte eater
One of the most famous problems in the Xiaomi ecosystem is the.thumbnail folder, which is located on the DCIM/.thumbnails path, and serves to store thumbnails of your photos and videos. When you flip through the gallery, the system creates previews so that the images are instantly uploaded.
The problem is that this folder has the ability to grow to an incredible size, and if you take thousands of pictures or delete a lot of videos, their thumbnails can stay and take up space. 10-20 GB, which is a significant part of the memory of a budget smartphone.
Can I remove.thumbnail?
To clear this partition, you'll need a file manager with access to hidden files. In standard MIUI, you'll need to enable the hidden elements in the settings to be displayed, then find the folder and clear the contents, which will free up space instantly.
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To clean up automatically, create an empty file called.thumbnail (without extension) in the DCIM folder.This will block the creation of a new thumbnail cache folder, but may slow the gallery browsing.
Cash of messengers and social networks
Social media and instant messengers are the main culprits behind the lack of space on modern smartphones. VK, TikTok and Instagram cache every video and image viewed so that when you reopen content loads faster, it is invisible to the user, but critical to the memory of the phone.
Telegram is particularly aggressive in this regard, because by default, it stores all the media files it receives in the memory of the device. If you are in dozens of channels where videos are posted daily, the phone will quickly fill up. In the application settings, there is a feature called Use Device Memory that you need to control.
It is recommended to regularly check the use of storage within the applications themselves. On WhatsApp, this is done through Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. You can see the most “heavy” chats and delete media files selectively without losing correspondence.
- 🗑️ Enable autodelete media in Telegram settings (Settings) → Data and memory → Autoboot).
- 📉 In the TikTok app, clear the cache through Settings and Privacy → Make room.
- 📂 Move important documents from chat rooms to cloud storage to free up local memory.
Residual files of remote applications
When you delete an app in the standard way, Android often leaves tails behind it, which can be settings, temporary files, or downloaded data that lie in the Android/obb or Android/data folder, and over time, hundreds of folders accumulate and take up valuable space.
To combat this, it's very effective to use the built-in Cleanup feature in Xiaomi's Security app, which scans the system for residual files, but sometimes it skips some directories, so manually checking through the file manager is also good.
⚠️ Note: When manually cleaning folders Android/data Be careful, delete only folders with the names of games or programs that have already been deleted, and you can't touch active applications, this will reset their settings or progress.
There's also the concept of zombie files, which is data from apps that you installed and then deleted, but their folders were left dead weight. Regularly auditing installed applications will help you identify those deposits. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps and sort the list by size.
Analysis of occupied space: table of decisions
To systematize your cleaning approach, use the following table to help you determine which method is right for your case and how much space you can free up.
| File type | Where to find | Security of removal | Potential volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash miniature | DCIM/.thumbnails | Completely safe. | 1-20 GB |
| Cash messengers | Application settings | Safe (avatars will disappear) | 2-50 GB |
| Remains of annexes | Android/data | Only for remote apps | 0.5 GB |
| Systems log | Section "Other" | Only through reset or ADB | 1-10 GB |
Use this data as a checklist when you do a memory audit. Start with the largest categories to get a quick visual result. Remember that once the cache is cleared, applications can run a little slower on the first run until they create new temporary files.
☑️ Memory cleaning plan
Radical methods: resetting and flashing
If standard methods fail and the System or Other partition continues to grow for no apparent reason, there may be errors in the file system, data fragmentation or failures when updating the MIUI may result in an incorrect display of free space.
In such cases, a complete factory reset helps. Before this procedure, be sure to back up all important data. The reset will delete all user files and return the phone to a store-like state, which is guaranteed to clear the memory.
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A full reset is the only way to clear the system partition “Other” if it inflates due to file system errors that are not visible to the user.
It’s also worth checking for system updates. Xiaomi engineers regularly release patches that fix memory management errors. Go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI Version and check for updates. Sometimes the problem is solved by installing the latest version of the software.
⚠️ Warning: Before resetting, make sure that the battery is over 50% and the Mi Account is unlocked (or you remember the password) or else the theft protection will go off and the phone will become a brick.
Prevention of memory overflow
So that the problem of "disappeared memory" does not come back, it is important to develop a habit of monitoring the storage. 95-99%, Because it slows down the memory controller and the whole smartphone. 5-10 GB free.
Use cloud services to store photos and videos. Google Photos, Yandex.Disk or Mi Cloud allow you to automatically upload media files and then delete them from the device, which frees up gigabytes of space without losing access to the archive.
Regularly, at least once a month, check the list of installed applications. Remove what you do not use. Many games after passing take 2-3 GB and just lie dead weight, waiting for rare launches. Control over installed applications is the key to cleanliness of the system.