A controller controls an operation of a semiconductor memory device. The controller includes a request analyzer, a storage, and a garbage collection controller. The request analyzer generates invalid data information, based on an erase request received from a host. The storage stores a garbage collection reference table representing memory blocks excluded from selection as a victim block on which a garbage collection operation is to be performed, based on the invalid data information. The garbage collection controller controls the garbage collection operation on the semiconductor memory device, based on exclusion block information generated according to the garbage collection reference table.

A storage device includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of first blocks having memory cells each configured to store one bit of data and a plurality of second blocks having memory cells each configured to multiple bits of data; and a controller configured to determine whether or not a number of use-completed second blocks, each of which has a first threshold number or less of valid pages, among use-completed second blocks of the plurality of second blocks, is equal to or larger than a second threshold number and to select, according to a determination result, a victim block on which garbage collection is to be performed among used-completed first blocks of the plurality of first blocks or the use-completed second blocks each having the first threshold number or less of valid pages.

A method includes determining that a ratio of valid data portions to a total quantity of data portions of a block of memory cells is greater than or less than a valid data portion threshold and determining that health characteristics for the valid data portions of the block of memory cells are greater than or less than a valid data health characteristic threshold. The method further includes performing a first media management operation on the block of memory cells in response to determining that the ratio of valid data portions to the total quantity of data portions is greater than the valid data portion threshold and performing a second media management operation on at least a portion of the block of memory cells in response to determining that the ratio of valid data portions to the total quantity of data portions is less than the valid data portion threshold and the health characteristics for the valid data portions are greater than the valid data health characteristic threshold.

A memory system, comprising: i) a first electronic device comprising a processor, ii) a second electronic device being external to the first electronic device and comprising a memory, wherein the memory stores a memory image over at least a part of a data set stored on the memory, and iii) a hash value related to the memory image. The first electronic device and the second electronic device are coupled such that the processor has at least partial control over the second electronic device. The processor is configured to, when updating the data set stored on the memory of the second electronic device, also update the hash value related to the memory image using an incremental hashing operation so that only those parts of the memory image are processed that have changed.

The present disclosure generally relates to methods of operating storage devices. The storage device comprises a controller comprising first random access memory (RAM1), second random access memory (RAM2), and a storage unit divided into a plurality of zones. By restricting the host to have a minimum write size, the data transfer speed to RAM2, RAM1, and the storage unit can be optimized. A temporary buffer is utilized within the RAM1 to update parity data for the corresponding commands. The parity data is updated in the RAM1 and written to the RAM2 in the corresponding zone. The parity data may be copied from the RAM2 to the RAM1 to update the parity data in the temporary buffer when commands are received to write data to corresponding zones. As the parity data is updated, the corresponding command is simultaneously written to the corresponding zone.

A semiconductor storage device includes a first memory area configured in a volatile semiconductor memory, second and third memory areas configured in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and a controller which executes following processing. The controller executes a first processing for storing a plurality of data by the first unit in the first memory area, a second processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a first management unit in the second memory area, and a third processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a second management unit in the third memory area.

A variety of applications can include apparatus and/or methods that provide parity data protection to data in a memory system for a limited period of time and not stored as permanent parity data in a non-volatile memory. Parity data can be accumulated in a volatile memory for data programmed via a group of access lies having a specified number of access lines in the group. A read verify can be issued to selected pages after programming finishes at the end of programming via the access lines of the group. With the programming of the data determined to be acceptable at the end of programming via the last of the access lines of the group, the parity data in the volatile memory can be discarded and accumulation can begin for a next group having a specified number of access lines. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.

Methods, systems, and devices for using page line filler data are described. In some examples, a memory system may store data within a write buffer of the memory system. The memory system may initiate an operation to transfer the write buffer data to a memory device, for example, due to a command to perform a memory management operation (e.g., cache synchronization, context switching, or the like) from a host system. In some examples, a quantity of write buffer data may fail to satisfy a data size threshold. Thus, the memory system may aggregate the data in the write buffer with valid data from a block of the memory device associated with garbage collection. The memory system may aggregate the write buffer data with the garbage collection data until the aggregated data satisfies the data size threshold. The memory system may then write the aggregated data to the memory device.

A system and method for lifecycle-aware persistent key-value storage. In some embodiments, the method includes: receiving a first modification instruction, for a first key; incrementing a device write counter for a persistent storage device; selecting a first block, from the persistent storage device, for the first key, based on a current value of the device write counter; and storing the first key and an associated first value in the first block.

A storage device is disclosed. The storage device may include a host interface to receive a write request from a host, the write request may include a data and a logical address of the data. The storage device may further include a first storage for the data. The storage device may further include a retention period determiner to determine a retention period for the data. The storage device may further include a translation layer to select a physical address in the first storage to store the data based at least in part on the retention period. The storage device may further include a second storage for a logical-to-physical mapping table to map the logical address to the physical address and the retention period. Finally, the storage device may include a controller to program the data into the physical address in the first storage.