1. A method comprising: storing an actual staleness count for a garbage collection unit (GCU) of a memory during a normal operational mode, the actual staleness count indicating a total number of stale data blocks in the GCU; determining, during a restoration mode after a power cycle event, a virtualized staleness count for the GCU responsive to the actual staleness count, a reverse directory table of the GCU and forward pointer data associated with data blocks written to the GCU; and transitioning the memory to the normal operational mode after the virtualized staleness count is determined.