Garbage collection adapted to memory device life expectancy

A memory device, comprising:

• an array of memory cells;
• and
• a memory controller operable to perform operations comprising:
• tracking an actual device age of the memory device from an initial memory write operation;
• determining a device wear metric using a physical write count and total writes over an expected lifetime of the memory device, the physical write count representing an amount of data physically written to the memory cells accumulated over the tracked actual device age;
• estimating a wear-indicated device age of the memory device in accordance with the determined device wear metric;
• determining a difference between the estimated wear-indicated age and the tracked actual device age;
• and
• based on the determined difference, reallocating memory cells between a single level cell (SLC) cache and a multi-level cell (MLC) storage.

A method of optimizing memory utilization in a memory device via a memory controller, the method comprising:

• tracking an actual device age of the memory device from an initial memory write operation;
• determining a device wear metric using a physical write count and total writes over an expected lifetime of the memory device, the physical write count representing an amount of data physically written to memory cells of the memory device accumulated over the tracked actual device age;
• estimating a wear-indicated device age of the memory device in accordance with the determined device wear metric;
• comparing the wear-indicated device age to the tracked actual device age to provide an age comparison result;
• generating a device performance indicator indicating the memory device is underused or overused with respect to a target use based on the age comparison result;
• and
• adjusting a memory operation or management of the memory device in accordance with the device performance indicator.