Media cache band cleaning

A method comprising:

• instantiating, at a storage controller on a data storage device, a hit tracking list, the hit tracking list including entries, each entry associated with one of a plurality of bands on a main data store, the hit tracking list further including a plurality of hit counters, each hit counter associated with one of the plurality of bands;
• incrementing, in response to receiving, at the storage controller, a data read request from a host for data in a logical address corresponding to a track in a first band in the plurality of bands, a first hit counter associated with the first band in the plurality of bands;
• and
• performing a band cleaning operation on the first band based in part on the hit tracking list, the band cleaning operation including reading data from tracks of the first band, storing the read data in a cache, modifying the read data based on data evicted from a media cache, and rewriting the tracks of the first band with the modified data to produce a cleaned band.

A method comprising:

• parsing, at a storage controller, a hit tracking list, the hit tracking list including entries corresponding to a plurality of bands on a main data store, the hit tracking list further including a plurality of hit counters, each hit counter associated with one of the plurality of bands, the value of the hit counter reflecting a number of read requests received by a host for data in logical block addresses of the corresponding band;
• selecting, based on the hit tracking list, one band in the plurality of bands on the main data store for a band cleaning operation;
• and
• band cleaning the one band in the plurality of bands on the main data store, wherein the band cleaning is a band rewrite operation.