Managing wear leveling and garbage collection operations in a solid-state memory using linked lists

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a storage subsystem comprising a non-volatile solid-state memory array and a system operation module for managing memory operations. The system operation module is configured to store system operation data in a data structure that includes linked lists for storing system operation data, with at least some lists including entries referencing blocks in the solid-state memory array belonging to a category. The system operation module is further configured to (1) move a particular entry from a first linked list to a second linked list when a block referenced by the particular entry in the first linked list has met a condition for being classified in a new category that is different from that of the blocks referenced by entries in the first linked list, and (2) update entries within the first and second linked lists so that the dependencies in the linked lists are maintained.