Wear leveling

Wear leveling distributes writes across flash-memory cells so that erase cycles are shared rather than concentrated on a small set of cells, extending flash storage life.

Garbage collection (flash memory): The process of reclaiming flash blocks by moving valid data and erasing blocks containing obsolete data. Block reclamation creates erase operations that wear-leveling algorithms must distribute.
Flash memory: Nonvolatile semiconductor memory that stores data as electrical charge and can be erased and reprogrammed. Wear leveling addresses the finite erase endurance of this storage medium.
Solid-state drive: A data-storage device that uses solid-state memory rather than rotating magnetic disks. Its controller uses wear leveling to manage flash cells under frequent host writes.
Flash translation layer: Firmware that maps logical storage addresses to physical locations in flash memory. It provides the remapping machinery wear leveling uses, but handles broader storage management.
Dynamic wear leveling: A wear-leveling method that selects less-worn blocks for new writes while leaving static data in place. It spreads wear among blocks that receive new data without relocating unchanged data.
NAND flash memory: A type of flash memory organized for dense storage, commonly used in solid-state drives, memory cards, and phones. Its erase-block organization and limited endurance make wear leveling essential.
USB flash drive: A portable storage device that uses flash memory and connects through a USB interface. Its limited flash endurance makes internal write distribution important.
Bad block management: Techniques for identifying and avoiding flash-memory blocks that cannot reliably store data. It excludes unreliable blocks; wear leveling balances use among blocks that remain usable.
Static wear leveling: A wear-leveling method that relocates rarely changed data so its blocks can join the pool for new writes. It balances erase counts even when some blocks hold long-lived data.
Program–erase cycle: A cycle in which a flash-memory cell or block is programmed and later erased. Each cycle consumes some of the finite endurance that wear leveling manages.

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