The smartphone Redmi 5A, released by the company Xiaomi, has long remained one of the most popular budget devices on the market. However, over time and application updates, the built-in storage of 16 or 32 GB begins to fill up rapidly. Users are faced with situations when the phone starts to slow down, notifications about lack of space appear more often, and installing new apps becomes impossible.
The problem of a lack of free space is relevant for many owners of this model, since the memory architecture here does not imply the use of modern, high-speed, large-capacity drives. The system Android over time accumulates a huge amount of temporary files, cache and residual data from remote apps. Proper cleaning allows you not only to regain gigabytes of free space, but also to significantly extend the life of the device, making its operation smoother.
In this guide, we will look at all effective methods for freeing up space: from standard system tools to manually deleting files via a computer. You will learn which folders you can delete without fear of losing important data, and how to set up automatic optimization.
Analysis of storage capacity
Before you start deleting files, you need to understand exactly what is taking up space in your memory Redmi 5A. The standard MIUI interface provides convenient tools for visualizing this data. Without understanding the structure (occupancy), you risk deleting important system logs or, conversely, leaving gigabytes of garbage untouched.
Go to the device settings and find the section Storage or Memory. Here the system will show the distribution of space by category: applications, images, video, audio, etc. It often turns out that the lion's share is occupied not by the apps themselves, but by their cache or downloaded files in instant messengers. Visual scale will help to immediately identify the problem area.
Pay attention to the category “Miscellaneous” or “Other”. It often hides system update files, archives and data that the system could not classify. If this partition takes up more than 3-4 GB, a deeper scan of the file system is required. Sometimes this is where downloads forgotten by the user are hidden.
⚠️ Attention: Do not delete files from system folders whose purpose you do not know. This can lead to unstable operation of the MIUI shell or a complete failure of the system to boot.
Using the built-in "Cleaning" application
The easiest and safest way to start fighting lack of space is to use the standard utility from Xiaomi. The “Cleaner” application is pre-installed in the MIUI shell and is optimized specifically for this version Android. It scans the device for temporary files, remnants of advertising and unused installation packages.
Launch the application through the icon in the “Tools” folder or through the memory settings menu. Press the big button Cleanto remove the found garbage. The system will offer to delete application cache, empty packages and advertising files. This process takes only a few seconds and does not require superuser rights.
The utility also has a “Deep Clean” function. It allows you to analyze large files, duplicate photos and rarely used applications. You can manually choose what to delete, for example, old videos or heavy archives. This gives you complete control over the process.
☑️ Weekly quick cleaning
It is important to use this function regularly, at least once a week. The accumulation of small temporary files occurs constantly in the background. Automatic cleaning can be configured in the application settings so that it works without your intervention when a certain fill threshold is reached.
Clearing the cache and application data manually
Built-in Cleaners are not always able to get to the deep settings of specific apps. Messengers like WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram have their own mechanisms for storing media files, which can occupy tens of gigabytes. Manual configuration of these applications is critical for owners Redmi 5A.
Go to Settings → Applications → All applications. Select the heaviest application from the list (usually social networks or browsers). Click on item Memory. Here you will see two buttons: “Clear cache” and “Clear all” (or “Reset”). Clearing the cache is safe and deletes only temporary data, speeding up work.
If you click “Clear all”, the application will return to the state immediately after installation: all accounts will be logged out, correspondence will be deleted (if they are not in the cloud) and settings. Use this option only if the app is not working correctly or you want to completely erase traces of its use. For messengers, it is better to use the built-in chat clearing settings.
In Telegram and WhatsApp, go to application settings → Data and memory → Memory usage. There you can delete the cache with one click, without deleting the conversations themselves.
Pay special attention to the browser Chrome or MIUI Browser. They cache every page visited, saving images and scripts. Over time, this database grows to obscene sizes. Regularly clearing the browser history and cache frees up from 200 to 500 MB of space.
Managing media files and transferring to a memory card
Photos and videos are the main consumers of space on any smartphone. The camera Redmi 5A takes pictures in good quality, and one minute video in 1080p resolution can weigh about 100-150 MB. It is irrational to store thousands of such files in the internal memory.
The ideal solution is to use a memory card microSD. Insert the card into the slot and format it as portable storage. Then, in the camera settings, specify saving new photos and videos directly to the card. For old files, use a file manager.
Standard Explorer MIUI allows you to easily move files. Highlight the DCIM, Pictures, or Downloads folders you want, click More, and select Move. Provide the path to your SD card. This action will physically transfer the files, freeing up internal memory.
| File type | Average size | Recommended storage location | Can be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo (JPEG) | 2-5 MB | SD card / Cloud | Duplicates only |
| Video (MP4) | 50-200 MB | SD card / PC | Old recordings |
| Audio (MP3) | 3-10 MB | SD card | Irrelevant tracks |
| Documents (PDF) | 1-20 MB | Cloud | Viewed files |
Transferring media files to an SD card is the most effective way to free up internal memory without loss data.
Working with the “Downloads” folder and residual files
The Download (Downloads) folder often turns into a digital dump. Installer APK files, documents from mail, pictures from browsers and attachments from instant messengers are automatically saved here. Many users forget about this directory for months.
Open the file manager and go to the folder Download. Sort files by size or date. You will be surprised to find installation files for applications that you have already installed a long time ago. These APK files are no longer needed and take up space completely uselessly.
Also check the folders created by third-party applications. For example, a folder Twitter or Instagram at the root of memory can contain thousands of thumbnails and temporary images. If you do not use these apps to save content, you can safely delete their contents.
⚠️ Attention: Before bulk deleting files from the Download folder, make sure that they do not include important documents, tickets or instructions that you downloaded recently.
What is the .thumbnails folder?
In hidden The DCIM/.thumbnails folder stores thumbnails of your photos for quick display in the gallery. Over time, this file can grow to several gigabytes. It can be safely deleted - the system will create it again, but in a smaller size.
Removing unnecessary applications and widgets
Each installed application not only takes up space for its installation file, but also reserves space for its data and cache. On Redmi 5A with its modest amount of memory, even a couple of extra games can become critical.
Check the installed apps. Go to settings and sort the list by size. Delete games you haven't played in the last two months. Remove duplicate applications (for example, two browsers or three players).
Do not forget about system applications that can be disabled. Although you cannot completely remove them without root access, the function Disable hides the application and prevents it from updating and running in the background, which indirectly saves resources and space for updates.
Widgets on the desktop also consume RAM and CPU time, although they do not take up much storage space. However, complex weather widgets or news feeds may cache a lot of data. Simplify your desktop to speed up your system.
Advanced methods: Reset and format
If none of the above methods gave the desired result and the memory is still full of strange files, the file system may be damaged or critical errors have accumulated in it. In this case, a radical measure helps.
Resetting to factory settings will return the phone to the “as from the store” state. This is guaranteed to remove all junk, viruses and configuration errors. Before doing this, be sure to make a backup copy of your contacts and photos, since all data will be destroyed.
Settings → About phone → Reset settings → Erase everythingAfter resetting, do not restore the backup copy of applications immediately. Set up your phone like new and install only the apps you need. This will avoid transferring old “garbage” back to the system.
⚠️ Attention: The menu interface and item names may vary slightly depending on the version of MIUI (8, 9, 10 or 11) installed on your Redmi 5A. Always check the current menu view on the screen.
Use cloud services (Google Photos, Yandex.Disk) with the “Free up space” function. They upload photos to the Internet and automatically delete them from the phone's memory.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Is it possible to transfer applications to a memory card on Redmi 5A?
In modern versions of Android and MIUI, the ability to transfer applications to an SD card is often limited or absent for many apps. It's up to app developers to decide whether to support this feature. You can try going to Settings → Applications, select the application and check if the “Move to SD card” button is active. If it is not there, the transfer is impossible without root access.
Why does the memory quickly fill up again after cleaning?
Most likely, you have automatic media downloading active in instant messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber). These applications constantly download pictures and videos from chats to the phone's memory. Go to the settings of each messenger and disable “Auto-save” or “Download media” via mobile network and Wi-Fi.
Is it safe to delete the Android folder?
No, deleting the entire folder Android is absolutely not allowed. It stores data from all installed applications. Deleting this folder will reset all apps, losing game progress and settings. You can delete only the contents of a subfolder Android/obb or Android/data for specific deleted games, but it is better to do this through a standard application manager.
How to find out which folder takes up the most space?
For a detailed analysis, it is best to download third-party disk analyzer applications, for example, DiskUsage or Files by Google. They display memory in a visual map, where the size of the square corresponds to the size of the file or folder. This allows you to instantly find the largest hidden files.
Does filling the memory affect the speed of the Redmi 5A?
Yes, it does critically. When the free space on the system partition runs out (less than 500 MB), the operating system Android begins to work extremely slowly. She has no place to create temporary files and a cache for operational work. Maintaining at least 1-1.5 GB of free space is necessary for stable operation of the processor.