Owners of a popular model Redmi 9 often face a mysterious situation: the internal memory is full, although there are no thousands of photos in the gallery, and very few games are installed. The hero of the occasion is the section "Other", which can occupy tens of gigabytes. This system partition accumulates all files that a standard analyzer cannot clearly classify as music, video or images.
The most common fillers in this category are messenger cache, especially Telegram and WhatsApp, as well as temporary system update files. Ignoring this problem leads to slower operation of the MIUI interface, long application downloads and the inability to install new apps. Let's take a look at how to safely and effectively free up space.
It is worth understanding that in the ecosystem Xiaomi interface MIUI has its own memory mapping features. What the system labels as “Other” is actually a mixture of useful data and digital junk. Your task is to carefully separate the wheat from the chaff without deleting important settings or correspondence.
Analysis of the contents of the “Other” section
Before taking radical measures, you need to understand the structure of the occupied space. The standard settings menu often gives only the overall picture, hiding the details. For in-depth analysis, it is recommended to use built-in tools or third-party utilities that can visualize the file system.
Go to Settings → Memory and carefully study the data distribution diagram. If the “Other” sector occupies more than 30-40% of the total volume, this is a signal to action. Often cached streams from video services or old firmware update files that the system forgot to delete are hidden there.
Particular attention should be paid to folders with the extension .thumbnails. These are thumbnails of your photos and videos that the gallery creates for quick previews. Over time, this folder can grow to incredible sizes, although the original files themselves may have already been deleted.
⚠️ Attention: Before any intervention in system folders or clearing application caches, make sure that you have a backup copy of important data on a cloud server or computer.
Use the Explorer application from Xiaomi and turn on the display of hidden files in the settings to see the real amount of space occupied in the root of the internal memory.
Clearing the cache of system applications and services
The safest and first step to freeing up memory is working with the built-in cleaning tool. The shell MIUI has a pre-installed "Security" application, which has access to system areas that are closed to conventional file managers.
Launch the application Security and select Cleaning. The system will scan and offer to delete temporary files. However, don't rush to press the clean button right away. Click on the “trash can” icon or the “Deep cleaning” item to see the details.
Here you can see file categories, such as “Outdated packages” or “Ad cache”. Deleting this data will not affect the functionality of the phone, but it may free up 500 MB to 2 GB of space. This is especially true for devices that have been actively used for more than a year.
- 🗑️ Delete memory dump files (log files) that are created when applications crash.
- 📦 Clear the store cache Google Playif you frequently update apps.
- 🔄 Check for residual files from previously deleted games and applications.
☑️ Checking system garbage
It is important to distinguish between the concepts of “cache” and “data”. Clearing the cache is safe and only deletes temporary files to speed up your work. Clearing data resets the app to its factory state, deleting logins, settings, and local history. Be extremely careful when choosing an action in the menu Applications → Application management.
Working with instant messengers: Telegram and WhatsApp
Messengers invariably remain the leaders in filling out the section. Telegram, for example, by default saves all received photos and videos to internal memory, duplicating them in its own encrypted cache. "Other" Messengers remain the same. Telegram, for example, by default saves all received photos and videos to internal memory, duplicating them in its own encrypted cache.
To clear Telegram, go to the settings of the application itself: Settings → Data and memory → Memory usage. Here you will see the amount of cache occupied. Click the button Clear cache. Don't be afraid, your correspondence and media files will not be deleted permanently - they are stored on Telegram servers and will be downloaded again if you need to view them.
With WhatsApp the situation is a little more complicated. This application stores media files in shared system folders, which may fall into the "Other" category if the file manager cannot correctly identify them. Go to Settings → Data and storage → Storage management.
⚠️ Attention: In WhatsApp, before clearing large files, make sure that important documents or photos were not saved only in the chat and do not have a copy in the gallery.
It is recommended to disable automatic media downloading in mobile devices networks. This will prevent unnecessary pictures from group chats from piling up in the future. The setting is in the section Data and memory → Autoload media.
Why does Telegram take up so much space?
The application caches watched videos and photos for quick re-opening without downloading from the Internet. This cache has no size limit by default, so it can occupy tens of gigabytes.
Manual deletion of files through Explorer
If automatic means fail, you will have to resort to the manual method. To do this, you will need any advanced file manager, for example Files by Google or standard Explorer with the display hidden files mode enabled.
Go to the root directory of the internal memory. Look for folders with the names of applications that you have already deleted. Often, uninstalling a app does not affect the folder with its name, where logs, settings and downloaded files remain.
Pay special attention to the folder Android/obb. Cache files of heavy games are stored here. If you deleted a game, but the folder with its name (for example, com.gameloft.android) remains, you can safely delete it manually. The weight of such folders often reaches 2-3 GB.
| Folder type | Can be deleted? | Risk of data loss | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
.thumbnails |
Yes | Low (gallery slowdown) | Delete regularly |
DCIM/.thumbnails |
Yes | Low | Safe |
Android/obb |
Only empty ones | High (games will not start) | Check for game availability |
MIUI/debug_log |
Yes | No | System junk |
Be careful with folders whose names you do not know. It is better to google the directory name before deleting than to lose important system configuration files. In case of doubt, it is easier to move the suspicious folder to your computer than to delete it.
Reset settings as last resort
When all methods have been exhausted, and the partition "Other" continues to occupy a critical volume (for example, more than 10 GB on a device with 64 GB of memory), a radical but effective method remains - a full reset to factory settings. This is guaranteed to remove all software junk.
Before the procedure, you must save all contacts, photos and documents to an external storage device or to the cloud. The formatting process will destroy absolutely all data on the internal drive, including that same mysterious folder.
To perform a reset, go to menu Settings → About phone → Reset settings → Erase all data. The device will reboot and begin the cleaning process, which may take from 10 to 30 minutes depending on the amount of full memory.
⚠️ Attention: Make sure the battery level is at least 50% before starting reset. Interrupting the process by turning off the phone can damage the system partition and make it impossible to boot.
After turning on the phone will be like new. The “Other” section will occupy the minimum possible volume required for system operation. This is a great way to extend the life of the device if it starts to slow down a lot.
A full reset is the only guarantee of removing system file indexing errors that can falsely inflate the size of the “Other” section.
Prevention of memory full
To prevent the problem from returning in a month, it is important to introduce the habit of regular hygiene of the digital space. Set up automatic clearing of the messenger cache. In the same Telegram, you can set a cache size limit, for example, 1 GB, so that old files are deleted automatically.
Use cloud storage for photos and videos. Services like Google Photos allow you to free up space on your device with the click of a button by deleting local copies of pictures already uploaded to the cloud.
Check the "Downloads" folder (Downloadregularly, at least once a month). This is where APK installation files, PDF documents and pictures from the browser accumulate, which the user often forgets to delete after use.
- 📅 Set a reminder for a monthly memory check.
- ☁️ Set up synchronization of important documents with the cloud.
- 🚫 Disable auto-loading of media in messengers for group chats.
Remember that the speed of work Redmi 9 directly depends on the free space on the drive. When the memory is more than 90% full, the system begins to operate in severe data fragmentation mode, which causes lags and interface freezes.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Is it possible to delete the “Other” folder completely without losing data?
It is impossible to delete the partition itself, since it is part file system. However, you can clear its contents to a minimum (1-2 GB) using the methods described above without losing personal photos and contacts.
Why, after clearing the cache, the volume of “Other” did not decrease?
Perhaps the files were moved to another category or the system has not yet updated the memory index. Try restarting your smartphone. Also, part of the volume may be occupied by the messenger database, which cannot be cleared by simply resetting the cache.
Does the overflow of the “Other” section affect the battery?
Yes, it does indirectly. When memory is low, it is more difficult for the processor to find free blocks to write temporary files, which increases the load on the memory controller and can lead to faster battery drain.
Is it safe to use third-party applications like Clean Master?
Modern versions of Android, including MIUI on Redmi 9, have built-in effective cleaning tools. Third-party “cleaners” themselves often consume a lot of resources and display intrusive advertising, causing more harm than good.