[c-nsp] 3870720 bytes area on Cisco 2960 switch flash?

[Martin T]

During the bootup of Cisco WS-C2960-24-S switch I see following messages:

Initializing Flash...
mifs[2]: 0 files, 1 directories
mifs[2]: Total bytes     :    3870720
mifs[2]: Bytes used      :       1024
mifs[2]: Bytes available :    3869696
mifs[2]: mifs fsck took 0 seconds.
mifs[3]: 519 files, 19 directories
mifs[3]: Total bytes     :   27998208
mifs[3]: Bytes used      :    8689152
mifs[3]: Bytes available :   19309056
mifs[3]: mifs fsck took 6 seconds.
...done Initializing Flash.


"mifs[3]" represents the "flash:" directory in IOS where IOS image,
HTTP server files, VLAN database and configuration file is stored.
However, any ideas what this 3870720 bytes area on flash memory is?
Probably (first stage of) the booloader which is also stored on flash
memory but not accessible from IOS?


regards,
Martin