Partitions

All devices on the Vita are partitioned the same way. Logical block size is 512 bytes and the first logical block is the master block which defines the partition table along with other information. Because of block level encryption, the master block is also encrypted along with everything else and cannot be seen if the device is dumped from an external dumper.

Master Block

The first block (512 bytes) provides a partition table as well as auxiliary information to the block management drivers.

Offset	Size	Information
0x0	0x20	Magic string "Sony Computer Entertainment Inc."
0x20	0x4	Version ? (0x3)
0x24	0x4	Size of device in blocks
0x28	0x28	?
0x50	0x11 - 0x110	Partition entries (there are 0x10 partitions at most (derived from code and data structure of SdStor driver))
0x160	0x5E	unknown (zeros)
0x1BE	0x10	unknown (may contain some data) (In standard MBR this area corresponds to Partition Entry)
0x1CE	0x10	unknown (must contain zeros) (In standard MBR this area corresponds to Partition Entry)
0x1DE	0x10	unknown (must contain zeros) (In standard MBR this area corresponds to Partition Entry)
0x1EE	0x10	unknown (must contain zeros) (In standard MBR this area corresponds to Partition Entry)
0x1FE	0x2	0xAA55 signature

Partition Entries

Each partition entry is 17 bytes long. Offset 0x0 means end of table.

Offset	Size	Information
0x0	0x4	Partition offset (blocks)
0x4	0x4	Partition size (blocks)
0x8	0x1	Partition code
0x9	0x1	Partition type
0xA	0x1	Partition active
0xB	0x4	Flags ? seen: 0x00000F1F, 0x00000F0F, 0x00000FFF, 0x??????55, 0x00000F4F
0xF	0x2	?

Partition Code

The partition code uniquely identifies the partition to its function.

It is related to SceKernelModulemgr#Partition Code but the meaning of the code is still unknown.

Partition Type

The partition type code indicates the file system used or if there is no file system (for example, in the case of a SLB2 archive).

Code	Description
0x6	FAT16
0x7	exFAT
0xDA	Raw data

Partition Active

Some partitions (specifically os0 and the boot loaders) have a shadow redundant copy. On update, only the inactive partition is written to and finally the active partition is swapped. For partitions that do not use this feature, this value is ignored.

Default Partitions

Name	PartitionSize	Code	Type	Physical	Description
		0x0	raw	EMMC	empty partition
		0x1	raw	EMMC	first eMMC partition, some data IdStorage?
		0x2	raw	EMMC	SLB2 Boot loaders
os0	15.96MB	0x3	FAT16	EMMC	The “main” OS files. Includes all the kernel libraries and the most important user libraries. There is always two copies of this for redundancy and updating will only update the inactive partition and the active flag is swapped.
pd0	303.91 MB	0xE	exFAT	EMMC	Welcome Park and Intro Video. It is also the “preinst” PUP update.
sa0	95.95 MB	0xC	FAT16	EMMC	The “bulky” data like fonts and handwriting information. Why is it a separate partition? Because it makes updates smaller. Your “systemdata” PUP provides the update for this partition.
sd0			FAT16		Unique to DEVKITs? (Needs confirmation on this). Used for sdcard storage (updates).
tm0	31.95 MB	0x6	FAT16	EMMC	eMMC-NAND npdrm partition.
ud0	255.91 MB	0xB	FAT16	EMMC	When you update the Vita, the update file is copied here and the system reboots.
ur0	2.55 GB	0x7	exFAT	EMMC	NAND is the remaining user data that is structured similarly to the memory card (it shares almost the same directory structure). App icon layout for example is found here.
ux0	varies	0x8	exFAT	Memory_Card	User Storage, commonly used for homebrew
vd0	31.95 MB	0x5	FAT16	EMMC	Registry and error history
vs0	255.73 MB	0x4	FAT16	EMMC	Rest of the OS including all the system apps, the main shell, and the remaining user libraries.
gro0	varies	0x9		Game_Card	Read-Only partition of the Game Card
grw0	varies	0xA		Game_Card	Read-Write partition of the game card if supported (for storing save games, patches and DLC of the game to cartridge).