An erase count of a flash memory block which is lost, e.g., due to power failure is updated or replaced by using known erase counts of other blocks of the flash memory. A flash management algorithm assigns a new erase count value instead of the lost one based on either a maximum value, an average value or a value combining the maximum value of the known erase counts and some tolerance value. The known values may be obtained from wear leveling data or from a stored erase history.