Dual SLC/QLC Programming and Resource Releasing

A data storage device, comprising:

• one or more memory devices;
• and
• a controller coupled to the one or more memory devices, the controller configured to:
• determine whether a first buffer release request for a buffer has been received;
• determine whether a second buffer release request for the buffer has been received;
• and
• release the buffer to an available buffer pool of buffers upon determining that the first buffer release request and the second buffer release request for the buffer have both been received.

A data storage device, comprising:

• one or more memory devices;
• means to determine that a buffer has received two release requests, wherein a first release request of the received two release requests corresponds with a single level cell (SLC) memory program of data, and wherein a second release request of the received two release requests corresponds with a multi level cell (MLC) memory program of the same data;
• and
• means to foggy write to MLC memory in parallel with writing to SLC memory.

A data storage device, comprising:

• one or more memory devices;
• and
• a controller coupled to the one or more memory devices, the controller configured to:
• receive a first release request for a buffer;
• receive a second release request for the buffer;
• and
• upon receiving both the first release request and the second release request for the buffer, release the buffer to an available buffer pool.