Flash Filesystem
NAND structure
The Switch's eMMC storage features a large user area, two smaller boot partitions, and a replay-protected memory block which is unused (no authentication key is programmed).
Boot Partitions
Boot Partition 0 (0 of 1)
Offset | Size | Description |
---|---|---|
0x000000 | 0x4000 | Title 0100000000000819 BCT |
0x004000 | 0x4000 | Title 010000000000081A BCT |
0x008000 | 0x4000 | Title 0100000000000819 BCT |
0x00C000 | 0x4000 | Title 010000000000081A BCT |
0x100000 | 0x40000 | Title 0100000000000819 "package1" |
0x140000 | 0x40000 | Title 0100000000000819 "package1" (Backup) |
0x180000 | 0x4000 | Keyblob area |
0x184000 | 0x20 | Unknown pseudorandom data, often changes on reboot. All zero on 1.0. |
0x184020 | 0x8? | Increments on every boot until hitting a certain number? Bottom 10 bits (0x3FF) are always zero. All zero on 1.0. |
Boot Partition 1 (1 of 1)
Offset | Size | Description |
---|---|---|
0x000000 | 0x40000 | Title 010000000000081A "package1" |
0x040000 | 0x40000 | Title 010000000000081A "package1" (Backup) |
0x080000 | 0x40000 | |
0x0C0000 | 0x40000 |
Keyblob
Starting at offset 0x180000 is an array of 0x200-byte entries, for a total of 32 keyblobs. Each one is unique compared to the others and they are all console unique.
From each 0x200-byte entry only the first 0xB0 bytes effectively form the keyblob as below.
Offset | Size | Description |
---|---|---|
0x0 | 0x10 | Keyblob AES-CMAC over the next 0xA0 bytes (safe against timing attacks) |
0x10 | 0x10 | Keyblob AES CTR |
0x20 | 0x90 | Keyblob encrypted payload |
0xB0 | 0x150 | Unused, all-zero. |
The active bootloader's version (offset 0x2330 in the BCT) acts as an index to control which keyblob should be installed into the system. NS uses this during system updates to install the keyblob into the customer data section in BCTs (offset 0x450).
Boot also uses this index for repairing corrupt sectors.
User Partitions
Partition name | Offset | Size | Bis Partition ID | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | 0x0 | 20 | GPT header, Bis-storage also allows raw access to the entire NAND eMMC sectors starting at sector0. | |
PRODINFO | 0x00004400 | 0x003FBC00 | 27 | "CAL0" raw partition containing set:cal data. |
PRODINFOF | 0x00400000 | 0x00400000 | 28 | FAT12 filesystem, additional calibration. |
BCPKG2-1-Normal-Main | 0x00800000 | 0x00800000 | 21 | For all these packages, data starts at offset 0x4000 and is not console-unique. This is installed from "package2" in firmware package A (0100000000000819) by default. With the exFAT update installed, this is switched to firmware package C (010000000000081B). The data stored here matches the raw /nx/package2 file stored in the 81[9AB] data archives -- there is no additional encryption. |
BCPKG2-2-Normal-Sub | 0x01000000 | 0x00800000 | 22 | Identical to BCPKG2-1-Normal-Main, probably used as a backup partition. |
BCPKG2-3-SafeMode-Main | 0x01800000 | 0x00800000 | 23 | This is installed from "package2" in firmware package B (010000000000081A). |
BCPKG2-4-SafeMode-Sub | 0x02000000 | 0x00800000 | 24 | Identical to BCPKG2-3-SafeMode-Main. |
BCPKG2-5-Repair-Main | 0x02800000 | 0x00800000 | 25 | Installed at the factory. |
BCPKG2-6-Repair-Sub | 0x03000000 | 0x00800000 | 26 | Identical to BCPKG2-5-Repair-Main. |
SAFE | 0x03800000 | 0x04000000 | 29 | FAT32 filesystem. |
SYSTEM | 0x07800000 | 0xA0000000 | 31 (and 32?) | FAT32 filesystem. |
USER | 0xA7800000 | 0x680000000 | 30 | FAT32 filesystem. |
0x747BFFE00 | 0x200 | This is the backup GPT header specified by the main GPT header. This is also the last sector readable with Bis-storage paritionID 20. |
If the client process lacks the relevant permission for any of the above partition IDs, error 0x2EE202 is returned.
NCAs stored in NAND are raw, identical to the data readable with Content_Manager_services#ReadEntryRaw.
The filenames for saveimages is just "<lower-case hex u64 saveID>". SYSTEM-partition saveIDs are specified by FS commands, while USER-partition saveIDs are determined by FS-module internally. The high u32 of the saveID is normally either 0x00000000 or 0x80000000.
PRODINFOF
PRODINFOF βββ Certifications β βββ WirelessCertification.png βββ ptd βββ DeviceIdWithEmsBit.dat βββ Ecid.dat βββ prodCode.dat βββ log βββ Process_asm1.log βββ Process_board1.log βββ TestFlagLine.log βββ TestFlagQc.log βββ AGING β βββ Sequence.log βββ BOARD_TEST β βββ Sequence.log βββ BOARD_WIRELESS β βββ Sequence.log βββ FINAL_CHECK β βββ Sequence.log βββ LCD_AND_KEY β βββ Sequence.log βββ USB_AND_HP βββ Sequence.log
DeviceIdWithEmsBit.dat
Contains a 0x10-byte uppercase hex string, identical to the DeviceId in the DeviceCert.
SYSTEM
SYSTEM βββ PRF2SAFE.RCV βββ Contents β βββ registered β β βββ ... NCA β βββ placehld β βββ ... NCA βββ save β βββ ... βββ saveMeta βββ ... (empty?)
The saves stored under this partition are only for system-titles / etc.
USER
USER βββ PRF2SAFE.RCV βββ Album (Same layout as SD) βββ Contents β βββ registered β β βββ ... NCA β βββ placehld β βββ ... NCA βββ save β βββ ... βββ saveMeta β βββ ... βββ temp
The saves for all non-system applications, regardless of where the application is located(storageID), is stored here. Each user account which has savedata has a separate saveimage. Save-common for an application is presumably a separate saveimage too. Every saveimage here is only for applications.
SAFE
SAFE βββ PRF2SAFE.RCV βββ Contents β βββ registered β β βββ ... NCA (nothing installed?) β βββ placehld β βββ ... NCA βββ save βββ 8000000000000000 βββ 8000000000000120
On a v2.1 system with MountBis, the only thing under here is "PRF2SAFE.RCV".
System Savegames
This is a listing of known System Savedata and what titles they correspond to.
SaveID | Owner | Mount | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
0x8000000000000010 | account | account:/ | Account database. |
0x8000000000000011 | account | idgen:/ | |
0x8000000000000020 | nfc | data:/ | NFC data and backups. |
0x8000000000000030 | ns | mii:/ | Mii database. |
0x8000000000000031 | ns | mii:/ | Mii test mode database. |
0x8000000000000040 | ns | apprecdb:/ | |
0x8000000000000041 | ns | nsaccache:/ | Home menu icondata/lru list for recently played games. |
0x8000000000000043 | ns | ns_appman:/ | |
0x8000000000000044 | ns | ns_sysup:/ | Content update context. |
0x8000000000000045 | ns | vmdb:/ | Version List/Required Version List storage. |
0x8000000000000046 | ns | dtlman:/ | |
0x8000000000000047 | ns | ns_exfat:/ | |
0x8000000000000048 | ns | ns_systemseed:/ | |
0x8000000000000050 | settings | SystemSettings:/ | |
0x8000000000000051 | settings | FwdbgSettingsS:/ | |
0x8000000000000052 | settings | PrivateSettings:/ | |
0x8000000000000053 | settings | DeviceSettings:/ | |
0x8000000000000054 | settings | ApplnSettings:/ | |
0x8000000000000060 | ssl | SslSave:/ | |
0x8000000000000070 | nim | nim_sys:/ | |
0x8000000000000071 | nim | nim_net:/ | |
0x8000000000000072 | nim | nim_tmp:/ | |
0x8000000000000073 | nim | nim_dac:/ | |
0x8000000000000074 | nim | nim_delta:/ | |
0x8000000000000075 | nim | nim_vac:/ | |
0x8000000000000080 | friends | friends:/ | |
0x8000000000000081 | friends | friends-sys:/ | |
0x8000000000000082 | friends | friends-image:/ | |
0x8000000000000090 | bcat | news:/ | Actual news msgpack archives. |
0x8000000000000091 | bcat | news-sys:/ | News metadata, tasklist, history, database, required system version, etc. |
0x8000000000000092 | bcat | news-dl:/ | Storage for newly(?) downloaded news list/data. |
0x80000000000000A0 | bcat | prepo-sys:/ | Play Report system information. |
0x80000000000000A1 | bcat | prepo:/ | Play Report msgpack archives. |
0x80000000000000B0 | bsdsockets | nsdsave:/ | Socket configuration saved data. |
0x80000000000000C1 | bcat | bcat-sys:/ | |
0x80000000000000C2 | bcat | bcat-dl:/ | |
0x80000000000000D1 | erpt | save:/ | Contains "/journal" report listing + actual crash reports ("/%08x-%04x-%04x-%02x%02x-%04x%08x"), which are serialized via MsgPack. |
0x80000000000000E0 | es | escertificate:/ | |
0x80000000000000E1 | es | escommon:/ | |
0x80000000000000E2 | es | espersonalized:/ | |
0x80000000000000F0 | ns | pdm:/ | Play Data log. |
0x8000000000000100 | pctl | pctlss:/ | Parental Control settings. |
0x8000000000000110 | npns | npns_save:/ | Push notifications persistent storage. |
0x8000000000000120 | ncm | ? | meta/imkvdb.arc for system partition. |
0x8000000000000121 | ncm | ? | meta/imkvdb.arc for sd partition. |