Backup on Xiaomi: Where to look for an Android backup in your phone and how to manage it

Ever wonder what will happen to your contacts, photos and messages if Xiaomi’s smartphone suddenly fails? Backup is a data loss insurance policy, but few people know exactly where those backups are stored on the phone. Unlike iPhones, where everything is synced with iCloud, Android devices (including Redmi, POCO and Mi) use multiple backup locations — and not all of them are obvious.

In this article, we will not only show you where to look for backup files on Xiaomi, but also explain how they are created, how system copies differ from custom ones, and why sometimes backups “disappear” after a MIUI update. You will also learn how to manually find hidden backup folders and what to do if standard recovery methods do not work.

1. Standard backup storage locations on Xiaomi

Xiaomi smartphones (based on MIUI or HyperOS) store backups in three main locations, the first and most obvious is the device's internal memory, where backups fall into two categories:

• 📁 System backups — created automatically when you update MIUI or reset settings. Stored in a hidden folder /data/backup (available only with root rights).
• 📱 Custom backups are the ones you make manually through Settings → About Phone → Backup. They're in the MIUI/Backup/AllBackup folder.

The second location is the Xiaomi cloud (if you've enabled synchronization). Here the backups are stored on the company's servers, but are only available through the Mi Account. The third is external drives (SD- card or USB-OTGZ), if you specified them as the target when you create a copy. Important: backup files have the.bak or.mbk extension and usually weigh from 100 MB to several GB.

There's a nuance: after upgrading to HyperOS (starting with Xiaomi 14 and Redmi Note 13), the path to backups has changed, now custom copies are stored in Android/backup, and system copies are stored in the encrypted /data/misc/backup section. If you don't find the MIUI/Backup folder, then you have a new firmware version.

⚠️ Warning: Files from the MIUI/Backup/AllBackup folder cannot simply be copied to another phone and restored. They are tied to a particular device and version of MIUI. Use the official Mi Mover tool to port data.

2. How to find hidden folders with backups (without root)

By default, the MIUI/Backup folder is hidden from the user, but it can be opened without the permission of the superuser.

1. Connect your phone to your computer via USB (in File Transfer mode).
2. Open Windows/macOS Explorer and go to Internal Memory.
3. In the address bar, enter the path manually: \MIUI\Backup\AllBackup and press Enter.
4. If the folder is not displayed, turn on the display of hidden files in the Explorer settings.

On the phone, it’s harder to do this, but you can: use any file manager (like Files by Google or Mi File Manager) and turn on the option to Show Hidden Files in the settings. Search for the folder in the same way: MIUI → Backup → AllBackup.

Is it possible to display hidden files in the file manager?

Is the phone connected to the PC in the "File Transfer" mode?

Is there a MIUI folder on the phone (the new models may not be available)

Have you recently deleted large files (backups can weigh several GB)-->

If the AllBackup folder is empty but you are sure you have backed up, check the alternative paths:

• 🔍 /sdcard/Android/backup — for backups made through Google (if account sync is enabled).
• 🔍 /data/com.miui.backup System copies (require root or ADB to access)
• 🔍 /MIUI/Extra/Backup are older versions of MIUI (up to 12.5).

3.The difference between MIUI and Google backups: where is it stored

Xiaomi’s smartphones have two parallel backup mechanisms: MIUI Backup (built into firmware) and Google Backup (via Google account), which store different types of data and have different limitations.

The key difference is that MIUI Backup keeps the call log and SMS that Google Backup ignores, while Google does a better job of handling app data (e.g., keeping progress in games if the developer supports it), and if you need to keep everything from system settings to instant messenger chats, you have to combine both methods.

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To check what data is saved in Google Backup, go to Settings → Google → Backup. This will show the size of the last copy and the date it was created.

On the POCO F5, Redmi K60 and later, Xiaomi has added Cloud Backup to the Mi Account settings. Here you can manually choose which data to sync from notes to design themes. However, this backup does not include the installed applications or their data - only the MIUI settings.

4 Why the backup can "disappear" and how to restore it

Xiaomi users often experience a situation where the backup suddenly disappears.

• 🔄 Update MIUI – The new firmware version can move or remove old backups (especially when switching to HyperOS).
• 🗑️ Memory Cleanup — The built-in Cleanup tool in MIUI sometimes deletes the AllBackup folder if it considers it to be “junk.”
• 🔐 Settings reset – When you factory reset (Wipe Data), backups from internal memory are deleted if they were not transferred to the SD- card.
• ☁️ Cloud issues – if the backup was stored in the Xiaomi cloud, it may become unavailable when you change your account region or lock your device.

If the backup is gone, try the following recovery steps:

1. Check the MIUI/Backup/AllBackup/data folder – sometimes the copy files are stored there in archived form.
2. Connect your phone to your PC and use the Mi PC Suite program to find backups.
3. If the backup was in the cloud, log in to i.mi.com and check Devices → Backups.
4. To restore the system backup after reset, use Recovery mode (clip Power + Volume up when turned on).

⚠️ Warning: If you backup Xiaomi with the bootloader unlocked and then lock it, it will be impossible to recover data from that copy.

5. How to manually create a backup (step-by-step instructions)

If you don't trust the automatic backup, you can create a copy manually. Here's the universal method for all Xiaomi models (from Redmi 9A to Xiaomi 14 Ultra):

1. Open Settings → About the phone → Backup.
2. Click Create a backup and select the data to save (contacts, SMS, apps, etc.).
3. Specify the location of the save: 📱 Internal memory is the path MIUI/Backup/AllBackup. 💾 SD- card is the folder Android/backup. ☁️ Xiaomi Cloud requires authorization to Mi Account.

Wait until the process is complete (it can take up to 30 minutes depending on the amount of data).

backup_20260515_123456.mbk

For a full backup (including applications and their data) you will need:

• 🛠️ Unlock the bootloader and install TWRP Recovery.
• 📀 Create a partition image /data through Backup → Select Partitions in TWRP.
• 💽 Save the image to a SD- card or PC (the file will weigh 10–50 GB).

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The standard MIUI backup does not store app data (e.g., chats in Telegram or progress in games), but requires specialized tools like Swift Backup (requires root) or Titanium Backup (outdated, but runs on older versions of Android).

6.How to transfer the backup to the new Xiaomi phone

If you bought a new Xiaomi smartphone (for example, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ instead of the POCO X3), transferring data from the backup is possible, but with reservations.

• 📲 Mi Mover is the official Wi-Fi data porting app that works between two Xiaomi devices, but does not support backups older than 6 months.
• 🖥️ Mi PC Suite is a PC program that can restore backup to a new device (even if the models are different).
• ☁️ Xiaomi Cloud – If the backup has been uploaded to the cloud, log in to the new phone and recover data via Settings → Xiaomi Account → Cloud → Restore.

The important thing is that the MIUI backup is tied to the firmware version, so if the old phone had MIUI 13 and the new phone had HyperOS, the standard recovery might not work.

1. Download the same version of MIUI on the new phone as the old one.
2. Restore the backup through Settings → Additional → Restore and Reset.
3. Update the firmware to the current version.

To transfer application data (e.g. game saves) use:

• 🎮 Google Play Games – synchronizes progress in supported games.
• 📁 Swift Backup (root) – allows you to selectively recover application data.
• 🔗 Manual portability – copy the /Android/data/ and /Android/obb/ folders from one phone to another (does not work for all applications).

7. Alternative backup methods for Xiaomi

If Xiaomi’s built-in tools don’t suit you, consider third-party solutions that offer more flexibility but may require additional customization.

To create a backup through ADB (without root), run the following commands on your PC:

adb backup -apk -obb -shared -all -f C:\backup.ab


adb restore C:\backup.ab

This command will save all applications, their data and shared files to the backup.ab file. You can restore it on any Xiaomi phone (or other Android device).

If you only need to save media files (photos, videos), the easiest way to use is to:

• 📸 Google Photos are automatically uploaded to the cloud.
• 🖼️ Galery Vault is an encrypted storage for personal files.
• 💾 File Manager + SD- Card – Manual copying of DCIM and Pictures folders.

⚠️ Note: When using Swift Backup or Titanium Backup on HyperOS phones, you may need to disable app signature verification. The command is: adb shell settings put global. verifier_verify_adb_installs 0

FAQ: Frequent questions about backup on Xiaomi