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	full of zeroes - maybe padding
0x30	0x4	Second Loader offset in blocks
0x34	0x4	Second Loader size in blocks
0x38	0x4	? (ex: 0x600)
0x3C	0x4	? (ex: 0x400)
0x40	0x4	? (ex: 0x600)
0x40	0x4	? (ex: 0x10000)
0x48	0x8	full of zeroes - maybe padding
0x50	0x110 (0x11 per partition * 10 partitions)	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: 0x00000555, 0x00000F0F, 0x00000F1F, 0x00000F4F, 0x00000FFF
0xF	0x2	?

Partition Code

The partition code uniquely identifies the partition to its function. It is related to SceKernelModulemgr#Partition Code.

Code	Block Device	Name	Location Seen	Description
0x0				empty partition
0x1	"idstor"		Internal	IdStorage
0x2	"sloader"		Internal	SLB2 Boot loaders
0x3	"os"	os0	Internal	Main OS partition, contains kernel modules
0x4	"vsh"	vs0	Internal	System applications & libraries
0x5	"vshdata"	vd0	Internal	Registry and error history
0x6	"vtrm"	tm0	Internal	NpDrm, Marlin and DevKit/TestKit activations files
0x7	"user"	ur0	Internal	User resources, LiveArea cache, database, & other stuff
0x8	"userext"	ux0	Internal / Memory Card	Memory Card
0x9	"gamero"	gro0	Game Card	Game Card read-only area
0xA	"gamerw"	grw0	Game Card	Game Card writable area
0xB	"updater"	ud0	Internal	Updater application and PUP copied here before reboot
0xC	"sysdata"	sa0	Internal	Dictionary and font data
0xD	"mediaid"		External	Some data on Memory Card & Game Card
0xE	"pidata"	pd0	Internal	Welcome Park and welcome video (Partition not present in Prototype units)
0xF	"unused"		External	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.