Storage devices can maintain metadata on a per-block basis, enabling the storage device, the file system, or other higher-level software to store and obtain information about individual blocks of data. A handshake between the storage device and a computing device can include an exchange of feature tables, whereby a commonly supported set of features and attributes can be selected and agreed upon. Such features and attributes can include access pattern specification in the per-block metadata, frequency of access or importance designations and specifications of the longevity of temporary data. The per-block metadata can either be provided by an application or the file system, or it can be generated by the storage device itself. Likewise, per-block metadata can be utilized by the storage device, either on its own or at the behest of an application or the file system, or it can be utilized directly by the application or file system.