One embodiment facilitates operation of non-volatile memory. During operation, the system determines, by a flash translation layer module, a physical block address associated with a first request which indicates data to be read, wherein the non-volatile memory is divided into separate physical zones, wherein the physical block address is associated with a first physical zone, and each separate physical zone has a dedicated application to read or write data thereto. The system obtains a free page frame in a volatile memory by writing data from a cold page in the volatile memory to a second physical zone, wherein a cold page is a page with a history of access which is less than a predetermined threshold. The system loads, based on the physical block address, data from the non-volatile memoryto the free page frame. The system executes the request based on the data loaded into the free page frame.