What is the primary function of Garbage Collection in an SSD?

The primary function of Garbage Collection in an SSD revolves around managing and optimizing the use of flash memory cells. When data is updated or deleted in an SSD, the old data cannot be overwritten directly due to the nature of NAND flash memory. Instead, the SSD controller marks these blocks as invalid and, over time, it becomes important to reclaim or clean up these marked blocks to maintain performance and longevity of the SSD.

Garbage Collection is essentially the background process where the SSD controller consolidates valid data from various blocks and frees up whole blocks that were previously occupied by invalid data. This process ensures that the SSD can continue to operate efficiently by reducing write amplification and maintaining faster write speeds. By cleaning up marked blocks, Garbage Collection helps to keep the storage space organized and ready for future write operations.

Understanding this function is crucial because it highlights one of the key aspects of SSD management, which directly impacts the performance and lifespan of the device. Other options describe important concepts in computing but do not accurately encapsulate the primary role that Garbage Collection plays in SSD technology.