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.
| Code | Name | Location Seen | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | empty partition | ||
| 0x1 | Internal | first eMMC partition, some data, IdStorage? | |
| 0x2 | Internal | SLB2 Boot loaders | |
| 0x3 | os0 | Internal | Main OS partition, contains kernel libraries |
| 0x4 | vs0 | Internal | Contains system applications & libraries |
| 0x5 | vd0 | Internal | Registry and error history |
| 0x6 | tm0 | Internal | Unknown, has an empty folder nphome
|
| 0x7 | ur0 | Internal | User resources, LiveArea cache, database, & other stuff |
| 0x8 | ux0 | Memory Card | Memory Card |
| 0x9 | gro0 | Game Card | Game Card |
| 0xA | grw0 | Game Card | Game Card writable area |
| 0xB | ud0 | Internal | Updater copied here before reboot |
| 0xC | sa0 | Internal | Dictionary and font data |
| 0xD | External | Some data on Memory Card & Game Card | |
| 0xE | pd0 | Internal | Welcome Park and welcome video |
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Updated Table
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| Name | Size | Code | Format | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | raw | EMMC | empty partition | ||
| 0x1 | raw | EMMC | first eMMC partition, some data IdStorage? | ||
| 0x2 | raw | EMMC | SLB2 Boot loaders | ||
| os0 | 15.96 MB | 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 | |
| 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 | Media#PS_Vita_Gamecards | Read-Only partition of the Game Card | |
| grw0 | varies | 0xA | Media#PS_Vita_Gamecards | Read-Write partition of the game card if supported (for storing save games, patches and DLC of the game to cartridge). |
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.