Patent ID: 8909888

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying an extended data set comprising multiple copies of data having a common logical address stored in different physical addresses within the memory, the multiple copies comprising a most current copy of the data and at least one stale copy of the data; determining a total accumulated size of the extended data set indicative of an accumulated total number of data bits in the multiple copies of the data stored in each of the different physical addresses within the memory; comparing the overall size of the extended data set to a predetermined threshold; and sanitizing at least a portion of the extended data set from the memory in relation to the overall size of the data set so that other previously stored data in the memory are retained in the memory, wherein a first type of sanitizing operation is performed responsive to the overall size of the extended data set exceeding the predetermined threshold and a different, second type of sanitizing operation is performed responsive to the overall size not exceeding the predetermined threshold.