Disclosed herein are innovations in memory management and data recovery for systems that operate using storage class memory (SCM), such as non-volatile RAM (NVRAM). The disclosed innovations have particular application to production database systems, where reducing database downtime in the event of a system crash is highly desirable. Embodiments of the disclosed technology can address a variety of problems that exist during a system crash. For example, embodiments of the disclosed technology can be used to address the loss of the physical memory mapping and/or the loss of the CPU cache that typically occurs in the event of a system crash. Furthermore, embodiments of the disclosed technology can be used to prevent data inconsistency and/or memory leak problems that may arise in the event of a system crash.