Pseudorandom data programming in a memory

A memory system which includes a memory controller coupled to a plurality of storage dies having pages for storing data, wherein the memory system implements logic to perform operations with respect to the storage dies, the operations comprising:

• in response to receiving by the memory controller from a host, write data to be written to the storage die, initiating writing data to a target block of pages of the storage die including initiating a page counter to identify a target page of a sequence of target pages of the target block of pages of the storage die for writing data to the target block;
• selecting a first target page of the sequence of target pages of the target block of pages of the storage die to write data, as a function of the page counter;
• determining whether the selected first target page is a retired page instead of an active page;
• and
• in response to a determination that the selected first target page is a retired page instead of an active page, writing on-board die pseudorandom data to the selected first target page which is retired, and updating the page counter to select a second in-sequence target page of the target block of pages of the storage die to write data.

A computer program product for a memory system for use with a host, the memory system comprising a plurality of storage dies having blocks of pages of memory for storing data, and a memory controller coupled to the plurality of storage dies and having a processor, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause operations, the operations comprising:

• in response to receiving by the memory controller from a host, write data to be written to a storage die, initiating writing data to a target block of pages of the storage die including initiating a page counter to identify a target page of a sequence of target pages of the target block of pages of the storage die for writing data to the target block;
• selecting a first target page of the sequence of target pages of the target block of pages of the storage die to write data, as a function of the page counter;
• determining whether the selected first target page is a retired page instead of an active page;
• and
• in response to a determination that the selected first target page is a retired page instead of an active page, writing on-board die pseudorandom data to the selected first target page which is retired, and updating the page counter to select a second in-sequence target page of the target block of pages of the storage die to write data.