Originally Posted by qwakrz

Scanning is the ability of the drive to report on the errors that appear on a burnt disc.

All optical media has errors on it, its a fact that the surface cannot be error free. The number of errors should be as low as possible when first recorded to allow for dust, dirt and scratches that will appear on the media with use.

Scanning a newly burnt disc will tell you the number of errors present on the media and gives you some idea of the quality. The disc may well be readable on all your drives but if it has a high number of errors to begin with it may well get to the point where one scratch causes the disc to become un-usable.

Not all drives scan & not everyone realises the benefits of scanning. Most people believe that just because the data can be read off of a disc that it is ok for long term storage. This is not a safe idea as metioned above.