A computer-implemented method, according to one embodiment, includes: determining whether a number of blocks included in a RTU queue associated with a first block pool is in a first predetermined range. In response to determining that the number of blocks included in the RTU queue is not in the first predetermined range, a determination is made as to whether a current I/O workload is in a second predetermined range. In response to determining that the current I/O workload is in the second predetermined range, for each block in the first block pool having a desired amount of metadata associated with the pages in the given block: a subset of pages in the given block are selected and data is relocated therefrom to a block in the second block pool.