Patent ID: 8838877

Claim:
A method performed by a processor in a non-volatile memory system, comprising: receiving a request for a garbage collection operation on a memory array within a non-volatile memory device of the non-volatile memory system, wherein the memory array is configured to store file data and file metadata, wherein the file metadata includes data associating files stored in the memory array to logical block addresses within the memory array; wherein the metadata further includes a unique object identifier and one or more ranges of logical block addresses associated with the unique object identifier; wherein a given file is associated with a respective unique object identifier, and the given file includes one or more chunks, wherein each chunk includes, within the chunk, the respective unique object identifier that is associated with the given file; in response to the request for the garbage collection operation, retrieving the file metadata programmed into the memory array by a file system; and identifying blocks of non-volatile memory for garbage collection based on the file metadata.