  We explore the effect of varying drive on metastability features exhibited by
the vortex matter in single crystals of 2H-NbSe$_2$ and CeRu$_2$ with varying
degree of random pinning. An optimal balance between the pinning and driving
force is needed to view the metastability effects in typically weakly pinned
specimen of low temperature superconductors. As one uses samples with larger
pinning in order to differentiate the response of different metastable vortex
states, one encounters a new phenomena, viz., the second magnetization peak
(SMP) anomaly prior to the PE. Interplay between the path dependence in the
critical current density and the non-linearity in the electromagnetic response
determine the metastability effects seen in first and the third harmonic
response of the ac susceptibility across the temperature regions of the SMP and
the PE. The limiting temperature above which metastability effects cease can be
conveniently located in the third harmonic data, and the observed behavior can
be rationalized within the Beans Critical State model. A vortex phase diagram
showing the different vortex phases for a typically weakly pinned specimen has
been constructed via the ac susceptibility data in a crystal of 2H-NbSe$_2$
which shows the SMP and the PE anomalies. The phase space of coexisting weaker
and stronger pinned regions has been identified. It can be bifurcated into two
parts, where the order and disorder dominate, respectively. The former part
continuously connects to the reentrant disordered vortex phase pertaining to
the small bundle pinning regime, where the vortices are far apart, interaction
effects are weak and the polycrystalline form of flux line lattice prevails.
