RC – Read Continuous (Byte 36, Bit 4): When set to 1, this bit instructs the drive to transfer data of the requested length without adding delays to increase data integrity—that is, delays caused by the drive’s error-recovery procedures. With RC set to 1 to maintain a continuous flow of data and avoid delays, the drive may send data that is erroneous. When the drive ignores an error, it does not post the error. The RC bit set to 0 indicates that potentially time-consuming operations for error recovery are acceptable during data transfer. The default setting is 0.

Error Latencies

The primary function of the Streaming Command Set is to allow management of error latency. Error latency occurs when correct data is not read from the disk within one revolution time after the head settles on track. The data went past the head and was not read or the data was not correctable by the error correcting code. Drives have error recovery procedures which attempt repeatedly to read the data. In computer systems this is the preferred behavior because it maximizes the likelihood that known good data will be read. In AV systems this may not be the preferred behavior because the time lost trying to recover perfect data may result in a larger problem than having partial data or no data returned.
Control the time allowed to recover from error
Allow partially correct data to be returned