pdirmann01
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, because when you install your OS on a HDD ESXi will create a separate partition if conditions are met. I believe if the boot device is not SD Card/USB Flash and is greater than 8GB, the difference would be formatted with VMFS as a datastore where your scratch partition and core dumps would go to by default. 

Some of this has changed since 7.x was released to accommodate for limitations in system partition and boot bank sizes.