1. A method of reading non-volatile storage, comprising: selecting a word line associated with a read operation, the word line is in communication with a group of non-volatile storage elements that are programmable to a plurality of physical states; applying to the word line a continuous scanning voltage signal that spans a range of read reference levels for the plurality of physical states; determining a threshold voltage of each non-volatile storage element based on time-domain sensing while applying the continuous scanning voltage signal; determining state information for each non-volatile storage element based on the threshold voltage from the time-domain sensing, wherein the state information exceeds a number of encoded bits in each non-volatile storage element; transferring from the non-volatile memory the state information for each storage element; and performing an initial decode to determine data for the plurality of storage elements based on the state information for each non-volatile storage element.