Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for enhancing memory erase functionality

A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions stored therein, the computer-readable program instructions comprising:

• a program instruction for receiving, at a controller embodied on a block-based mass memory, an erase command from a host device in communication with the mass memory such that the host device has ability to read from and write to the mass memory and is configured to free one or more blocks of the mass memory by writing to memory allocation data stored in the mass memory prior to sending the erase command to the controller, wherein the erase command comprises a location of a block storing memory allocation data for one or more blocks of the mass memory;
• a program instruction for accessing the block storing memory allocation data based at least in part upon the location included in the erase command;
• a program instruction for determining, based at least in part upon the memory allocation data, at least one block within the mass memory that has been freed by the host device;
• and
• a program instruction for erasing the at least one freed block in response to the erase command.

An apparatus comprising a block-based mass memory and a controller, wherein the controller is configured to:

• receive an erase command from a host device in communication with the mass memory such that the host device has ability to read from and write to the mass memory and is configured to free one or more blocks of the mass memory by writing to memory allocation data stored in the mass memory prior to sending the erase command to the controller, wherein the erase command comprises a location of a block storing memory allocation data for one or more blocks of the mass memory;
• access the block storing memory allocation data based at least in part upon the location included in the erase command;
• determine, based at least in part upon the memory allocation data, at least one block within the mass memory that has been freed by the host device;
• and
• erase the at least one freed block in response to the erase command.