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	0x8	?
0x30	0x4	Second Loader offset (blocks)
0x34	0x4	Second Loader size (blocks)
0x38	0x18	?
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, 0x00000555, 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

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.