1. (computer peripheral) See
scanner.
4. storage, algorithm An algorithm for scheduling multiple
accesses to a disk. A number of requests are ordered
according to the data's position on the storage device. This
reduces the disk arm movement to one "scan" or sweep across
the whole disk in the worst case. The serivce time can be
estimated from the disk's track-to-track
seek time, maximum
(1995-11-15)