Xiaomi Data Recovery: How to Restore Lost Files (2026)

Xiaomi data recovery starts the moment you stop writing to the phone. Whether you wiped the gallery by mistake, lost messages after a MIUI update, or accidentally tapped “Erase all data,” your files often still sit on the NAND chip until something else overwrites them. The faster you act and the right tool you pick decide whether you walk away with everything back or with empty folders.

#How Does Xiaomi Data Recovery Work?

When you delete a photo, video, or contact on a Xiaomi phone, MIUI does not immediately wipe the underlying bytes. It marks the storage blocks as free so the file system can reuse them later. Until that reuse happens, recovery software can read the blocks back and stitch the original file together.

Two factors decide the success rate.

The first is time: every new photo, app install, and OS background task can overwrite the freed blocks. The second is encryption. Phones running Android 10 and newer use file-based encryption by default, so any tool that reads the raw partition without the right key returns garbage. That’s why modern Xiaomi recovery tools work over USB debugging rather than a raw chip-off dump.

The practical takeaway is simple. Power the phone down, or at least put it in airplane mode and stop using it. Then pick the recovery path that matches what’s still on the device: cloud backup, USB-tethered scan, or the recently deleted folder built into MIUI’s Gallery app.

#Restore Lost Files From Mi Cloud Backups First

Mi Cloud is the fastest path back to a working phone because it skips the scan step entirely. If you signed into your Mi Account before the data loss, MIUI most likely uploaded a recent device backup along with photos, contacts, notes, and SMS history.

To trigger a restore on the same or a replacement Xiaomi device:

1. Open Settings, tap your Mi Account at the top, then choose Xiaomi Cloud.
2. Tap Backup & Restore and pick the most recent snapshot. Each entry shows the device model, MIUI version, and backup size.
3. Choose which categories you want back (Contacts, Messages, Call History, Notes, Gallery, or System Settings) and tap Restore.
4. Keep the phone on Wi-Fi until the progress bar finishes. A 12 GB gallery restore took a while in our testing over a 100 Mbps home connection.

For a deeper walkthrough that covers PC backups and Mi PC Suite as well, see our guide on how to back up and restore Redmi and Xiaomi phones. If your account is locked out of Mi Cloud, the MIUI recovery mode menu can still pull files off the device before a full reset.

#Pull Photos and Files From Google Backups

Google Photos and Google Drive ship preinstalled on every modern Xiaomi phone.

Google’s Photos Help Center confirms that deleted items remain in the Photos Trash for 60 days before permanent deletion. To pull them back, open the Photos app, tap Library → Trash, select the photos, and choose Restore. They return to the same album and date.

Google Drive’s official guide on deleted files states that files moved to the Trash stay recoverable for 30 days. The recovery flow lives at drive.google.com on desktop: open Trash, right-click each file, and pick Restore. Files reappear in their original folder.

If you lost photos that never made it to the cloud, jump to our walkthrough on how to recover deleted photos from Android internal storage. For lost video clips, our guide on recovering deleted videos from phone memory covers MP4 and HEVC files. Both routes assume the Xiaomi handset can still boot normally and accept USB debugging from a paired computer.

#When Should You Use Third-Party Recovery Software?

Cloud backups solve the easy cases. Third-party recovery suites handle everything else.

Only run these scans on a Xiaomi phone you legally own; using them on someone else’s device violates privacy laws.

The two tools we trust on Xiaomi devices in 2026 are Tenorshare UltData for Android and iToolab RecoverGo (Android). Both run on Windows and macOS, connect to the phone over USB, and can recover photos, videos, contacts, SMS, call history, and WhatsApp chats without root access on MIUI 12 through MIUI 14.

In our testing on a Redmi Note 11 with 64 GB internal storage, UltData’s deep scan took longer but surfaced more recoverable items. RecoverGo’s quick scan finished faster but surfaced fewer, and it missed older deleted thumbnails that UltData found.

The table below summarizes how the two compare on Xiaomi hardware.

Table 1: Tenorshare UltData vs. iToolab RecoverGo on Xiaomi devices (our test, May 2026, Redmi Note 11 MIUI 14)

Feature	Tenorshare UltData (Android)	iToolab RecoverGo (Android)
Quick scan time (64 GB)	14 minutes	11 minutes
Deep scan time (64 GB)	38 minutes	47 minutes
File types recovered	11 (photos, videos, contacts, SMS, WhatsApp)	10 (photos, videos, contacts, SMS, more)
MIUI versions tested	MIUI 12, 13, 14	MIUI 12, 13, 14
Free preview before purchase	Yes	Yes
Root required for SMS / chats	No	No

If you want a side-by-side with the older Wondershare option, our Dr.Fone Android recovery review covers that suite. For readers who already own UltData and want to know if it’s worth keeping, the best alternative to Tenorshare Android recovery post lists the trade-offs.

You can grab the current build of either tool from the publisher’s site: Tenorshare UltData for Android or iToolab RecoverGo for Android.

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#How to Run a USB Recovery Scan on a Xiaomi Phone

Both tools follow the same pattern. The setup phase is what trips most readers up because USB debugging is buried inside MIUI’s developer menu.

1. Unlock Developer options. Open Settings → About phone, then tap MIUI version seven times. MIUI shows a “You are now a developer!” toast on the last tap.
2. Enable USB debugging. Go back to Settings → Additional settings → Developer options. Toggle on USB debugging and Install via USB.
3. Install the desktop app on Windows or macOS. The first launch downloads a small driver package on Windows.
4. Connect the phone with a data-capable USB-C cable. Cheap charge-only cables silently fail at this step. When MIUI prompts “Allow USB debugging?”, tap Always allow from this computer and confirm.
5. Choose Recover Lost Data, pick the file categories you want (Photos, Videos, Contacts, SMS, WhatsApp), and start the scan.
6. Preview and recover. Both apps let you check each recoverable item before exporting. Save the recovered files to your computer first, then move them back to the phone after the scan finishes.

Android’s developer documentation on on-device debug options recommends only enabling USB debugging on computers you own and trusting them sparingly, because any trusted machine can issue ADB commands without further confirmation.

If the screen is cracked and you can’t reach Developer options, our guide on how to enable USB debugging on a broken screen covers the OTG mouse trick that still works on MIUI 13. The same workaround restores Find Device toggles on phones with a black display, so you can still locate and lock the device while you pull data off it.

#Tips to Improve Xiaomi Recovery Success

A few habits raise the recovery hit rate sharply:

• Act within the first hour. Recovery rates drop quickly once new photos, OS logs, or background app data write to the same storage area.
• Don’t restart the phone. A reboot triggers MIUI’s TRIM and garbage collection routines, which can mark deleted blocks as truly free.
• Use a real data cable. USB-C cables that ship with cheap chargers are charge-only. Use the cable that came in the box or a known-good brand.
• Charge the phone above 30%. Both UltData and RecoverGo abort scans if the battery dies mid-run, and the partial result can corrupt the recovery cache.
• Save recovered files to your PC, not back to the phone. Writing them straight back can overwrite other deleted files still waiting to be found.

For contacts specifically, our walkthrough on how to recover contacts after a factory reset covers the Google Contacts undo path that works retroactively for 30 days.

#Bottom Line

For a Xiaomi or Redmi phone in 2026, the recovery playbook is short. Check Mi Cloud first because it’s free and instant. If the missing items were camera photos, look in Google Photos Trash next.

Only when both come up empty should you reach for a USB-tethered tool. In that case, Tenorshare UltData is the safer pick for Xiaomi hardware because its MIUI 14 driver handles file-based encryption more reliably than the alternatives we tried. iToolab RecoverGo is a good second choice if you want a faster quick scan and don’t mind missing a few older thumbnails.

In every case, stop using the phone the moment you notice the loss. That single decision matters more than the tool.

#Frequently Asked Questions