Controlling variation of valid data counts in garbage collection source blocks

A method comprising:

• identifying, by a processing device, a subset of blocks from a set of blocks of a memory device based on a valid data count constraint;
• selecting, using a first garbage collection source block selection scheme, a first block from the subset of blocks as a first candidate for a garbage collection source block based on a valid data count of the first block, the valid data count of the first block comprising a number of pages in the block that store valid data;
• selecting, using a second garbage collection source block selection scheme, a second block from the subset of blocks as a second candidate for the garbage collection source block based on a data temperature of the second block, the data temperature of the second block corresponding to a frequency with which data stored by the second block is updated;
• performing, by the processing device, a comparison of the first candidate and the second candidate for the garbage collection source block, the performing of the comparison including comparing the first block and the second block in accordance with one or more comparison criterion;
• selecting, by the processing device, the first block or the second block as the garbage collection source block based on the comparison;
• and
• performing garbage collection at the garbage collection source block.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, configure the processing device to perform operations comprising:

• identifying a subset of blocks from a set of blocks of a memory device based on a valid data count constraint;
• selecting, using a first garbage collection source block selection scheme, a first block from the subset of blocks as a first candidate for a garbage collection source block based on a valid data count of the first block, the valid data count of the first block comprising a number of pages in the block that store valid data;
• selecting, using a second garbage collection source block selection scheme, a second block from the subset of blocks as a second candidate for the garbage collection source block based on a data temperature of the second block, the data temperature of the second block corresponding to a frequency with which data stored by the second block is updated;
• performing a comparison of the first candidate and the second candidate for the garbage collection source block, the performing of the comparison including comparing the first block and the second block in accordance with one or more comparison criterion;
• selecting the first block or the second block as the garbage collection source block based on the comparison;
• and
• performing garbage collection at the garbage collection source block.