Efficiently purging non-active blocks in NVM regions while preserving large pages

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a host system, the program code embodying a method for purging non-active blocks in a non-volatile random access memory (NVM) region of an NVM device while preserving large pages, the method comprising:

• receiving a write request with respect to a data block of the NVM region, wherein the data block is referred to by a snapshot of the NVM region and is part of a large page corresponding to an allocation of a plurality of contiguous data blocks in the NVM region:
• allocating a new data block in the NVM region;
• copying contents of the data block to the new data block;
• updating the data block with write data associated with the write request;
• and
• updating a level 1 (L1) page table entry of a running point of the NVM region to point to the data block within the large page.

A host system comprising:

• a non-volatile random access memory (NVM) device;
• a mass storage device;
• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code that, when executed, causes the processor to:
• receive a write request with respect to a data block of the NVM device, wherein the data block is referred to by a snapshot of the NVM device and is part of a large page corresponding to an allocation of a plurality of contiguous data blocks in the NVM device:
• allocate a new data block in the NVM device;
• copy contents of the data block to the new data block;
• update the data block with write data associated with the write request;
• and
• update a level 1 (L1) page table entry of a running point of the NVM device to point to the data block within the large page.