Patent ID: 7287118

Claim:
A method of managing a non-volatile memory of a memory system according to an average number of times each block of a number of blocks within the non-volatile memory has been erased, the method comprising: for a first block of the number of blocks, comparing an erase count stored in the first block, the erase count indicating a number of times that block has been erased, with an erase count value for the first block stored in a non-volatile portion of a system memory of the memory system; responsive to the comparing step determining that the erase count stored in the first block is greater than the erase count value for the first block stored in the system memory, updating the erase count value for the first block stored in system memory to correspond to the erase count stored in the first block; also responsive to the comparing step determining that the erase count stored in the first block is greater than the erase count value, obtaining an erase count-for each block of the number of blocks, wherein the number of blocks is a total number of usable blocks within the non-volatile memory; creating a sum of the obtained erase counts for the number of blocks; creating an average erase count, from the sum of the obtained erase counts; and storing an indicator of the average erase count in a non-volatile portion of the system memory of the memory system.