Dynamically resizing logical storage blocks

An apparatus comprising:

• means for identifying a pool of erase blocks of a non-volatile recording medium to assign to a plurality of virtual blocks, each of the plurality of virtual blocks comprising a plurality of erase blocks that are logically combined to form a single storage unit of the non-volatile recording medium;
• means for calculating sizes for each of the plurality of virtual blocks, the sizes defining a number of erase blocks to assign to each of the plurality of virtual blocks;
• means for assigning erase blocks from the pool of erase blocks to each of the virtual blocks such that variations in sizes between each virtual block is less than twenty-five percent;
• means for maintaining a reserve pool of erase blocks comprising identified erase blocks that are not assigned to the plurality of virtual blocks, the reserve pool sized to ensure that the sizes of the virtual blocks vary by less than twenty-five percent, the reserve pool comprising available erase blocks from each plane of the non-volatile recording medium;
• and
• means for generating a new logical block in response to dissolving at least one of the plurality of logical blocks, the new logical block comprising one or more erase blocks from the at least one dissolved logical block and erase blocks from the reserve pool of available erase blocks such that the numbers of erase blocks for the new logical block satisfies the predetermined deviation limit relative to other logical blocks, the erase blocks from the reserve pool selected such that the new logical block comprises an erase block from each plane of the non-volatile recording medium wherein the lowest age erase blocks that are available from each plane are selected for the new logical block.

A system comprising:

• a non-volatile memory device, the non-volatile memory device comprising a plurality of erase blocks;
• and
• a controller for the non-volatile memory device, the controller performing operations for:
• determining how many of the plurality of erase blocks are usable for creating super blocks, the super blocks comprising storage units of the non-volatile memory device that are comprised of a combination of a plurality of erase blocks;
• generating a mapping of the usable erase blocks to the super blocks such that the number of usable erase blocks that are mapped to each of the super blocks varies by less than a threshold size;
• periodically modifying the mapping of the useable erase blocks to the super blocks while ensuring that the number of usable erase blocks that are mapped to each of the super blocks varies by less than the threshold size;
• maintaining a reserve pool of usable erase blocks that are not assigned to the super blocks, the reserve pool sized to ensure that the number of usable erase blocks that are assigned to each of the super blocks varies by less than the threshold size, the reserve pool comprising available erase blocks from each plane of the non-volatile memory device;
• and
• generating a new logical block in response to dissolving at least one of the plurality of logical blocks, the new logical block comprising one or more erase blocks from the at least one dissolved logical block and at least one erase block from the reserve pool of available erase blocks such that the numbers of erase blocks for the new logical block satisfies the predetermined deviation limit relative to other logical blocks, the erase blocks from the reserve pool selected such that the new logical block comprises an erase block from each plane of the non-volatile memory device wherein the lowest age erase blocks that are available from each plane are selected for the new logical block.