Users of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often wonder about the physical location of files with text records, which is necessary to create backups, transfer data to a new device or recover accidentally deleted information. Standard synchronization methods do not always work correctly, so knowing the structure of the file system becomes a critical skill.
In the Android operating system, directory structure has its own features, which have changed with the release of new versions of the OS. On modern firmware MIUI and HyperOS, access to system folders is limited, which requires the use of special tools or root rights for full access.
In this article, we will look at where your records are stored, how to find export files, and how different paths are used across applications. You will learn about the nuances of working with the SQLite database and understand why a simple search by file name may not work.
The standard path to Mi Notes files in internal memory
Xiaomi’s Notes app saves data in a protected memory area by default, but when you manually export or create text files, it ends up in public directories. If you’ve used Send or Save as a File, look for documents in the root directory of internal memory, most commonly a folder called MIUI or Notes.
To access this data, you need to open any file manager, such as a standard Explorer or MI File Manager. Go to the Internal Storage section. This can be the /MIUI/notes/ directory, where exported files are stored in.txt or.bak format. The path can vary depending on the shell version.
It's important to understand that the "live" notes you see in the app are not here as text documents. They're stored in the app database. They're not directly accessible without exporting them through standard Explorer. The.db or.sqlite files in the app's data folder contain the entire structure of your records, including creation time and tags.
⚠️ Note: Do not delete or edit database files (.db) manually through third-party editors, which will lead to irreversible database corruption and complete loss of all entries in the application.
If you plan to transfer notes to another phone, use the built-in Data Transfer or cloud sync, rather than copying files from system folders, which ensures the integrity of the record structure.
System Access Paths through Root and ADB
For advanced users with SuperUser (Root) rights or using ADB debugging, hidden system partitions are opened. This is where the Notes app stores its basic data in real time. The path to these files is as follows: /data/data/com.miui.notes/databases/.
This directory contains a database file, commonly called note.db or similarly named, which stores all text, to-do lists, and images attached to notes, and without root rights, the /data/data/ folder is hidden from the user and file managers.
How to access /data/data/ without Root?
Using the ADB command line, you can back up this file, and the command looks something like this:
adb pull /data/data/com.miui.notes/databases/note.db ./backup_note.dbHowever, simply copying a file is not enough. You will need a dedicated SQLite Viewer to read the content. The structure of tables within the database can be difficult for the untrained user, since the text is often broken down into many linked tables.
Differences in data storage on different versions of MIUI and HyperOS
The MIUI shell is constantly evolving, and with each major update, the paths to user data change, due to Google’s increased security policy and the introduction of Scoped Storage. On older versions (MIUI 10-12), folders were more open to the public.
On newer versions, including HyperOS and MIUI 14/15, applications are isolated from each other. Files created by one application are not visible by default to the other, which means that the /Android/data/com.miui.notes/ path may be empty or inaccessible to view through a standard Explorer without special permissions.
Users of new OS versions are advised not to rely on file search in memory, but to use cloud services. Local storage is becoming less predictable due to encryption and dynamic changes in the structure of directories by the system.
| Android/MIUI version | Access to /data/data | Location of exports | Safety features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android 9 / MIUI 10-11 | Partly open. | /MIUI/notes/ | Low access is possible without Root |
| Android 10 / MIUI 12 | Limited. | /Internal Storage/Notes/ | Implemented Scoped Storage |
| Android 11+ / MIUI 13-14 | Closed (needs Root) | Depends on the app. | High isolation of processes |
| HyperOS / Android 14+ | Closed tightly. | Cloud or XML | Maximum data protection |
Working with Google Keep and third-party analogues
Many Xiaomi users prefer alternatives to the standard application, such as Google Keep, Evernote or Notion. The principles of data storage are radically different from them. Google Keep, for example, does not store notes as individual files in the memory of the phone in a user-friendly way.
All data in Google Keep is synchronized with a Google account and stored on the company's servers. Only a cache, which is an encrypted data set, can remain on the device locally.
To export data from third-party applications, you need to use their built-in functions, usually through the settings menu of the application itself: Settings → Export data, resulting in an.zip archive or.json file that can be saved to any folder.
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Use the "Take a copy" feature in Google Keep to back up all notes in Google Docs format, which is more reliable than searching for files in your phone's memory.
If you use simple voice recorders or text editors (like Simple Notes), they often create files in the /Documents/ folder or in their own folder with the application name at the root of internal memory.
How to Recover Deleted Notes from Backup
Data recovery is a complex process, depending on whether you have a backup done in advance. If you have a.bak or.db file from your notebook, you can try to insert it back into the system, and you need to place the file on the original path, replacing the current one (pre-deleting the old one).
However, if the file has been deleted and the recycle bins are not in the application, the chances of success are reduced. You can try using software to recover data from a PC by connecting the phone in debugging mode, but success is guaranteed only if the memory sector has not been overwritten with new data.
☑️ Checklist before data recovery
There is a myth that the.Trash or Recently Deleted folder in the Android file system stores the remote for a long time. In fact, after cleaning the shopping cart in the Notes or Gallery app, the data is marked as free space and can be erased at any time.
⚠️ Note: When you restore the donor and recipient versions from a backup, the different database structure will cause the application to fail or crash.
The best way to restore is to sync with Mi Cloud. Go to the Mi Account settings, select Restore from the Cloud, and select Notes. The system will download the last saved version.
Alternative methods of preservation and synchronization
Instead of looking for which folder the files are in, it's more effective to set up automatic sync. The Notes app on Xiaomi has a built-in sync function with Mi Cloud, which allows you to access records from any device by logging in to your account.
You can also set up automatic sending of copies of notes to email or messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) through automation functions, if the application supports it, or using macros, this will create a text history of your chat or mail entries.
For critical data, use the 3-2-1 rule: three copies of data, on two different media, one of which is remotely located (in the cloud).
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Regularly exporting important notes to PDF or TXT format and storing them on external media or in cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox) is the only guaranteed way to avoid losing information.
Using desktop widgets also helps to access the information you need faster, bypassing long searches in the menu, although this does not directly affect the file structure.