Channel Access python bindings in cothread/catools are documented here: http://www.cs.diamond.ac.uk/docs/docshome/cothread/index.html and externally visible here: http://controls.diamond.ac.uk/downloads/python/cothread/2-11-beta/docs/html/index.html
The HDF5 file format is widely used around Diamond and documentation can be found here: http://controls.diamond.ac.uk/downloads/python/cothread/2-11-beta/docs/html/index.html
HDF5 files can be viewed with a couple of different viewers. The most common one is 'hdfview' - you get it in your environment by running:
module load hdfview
hdfview
The sscan EPICS record can be used to scan motors and read signals from other PVs. This is all operated and configured from the client side.
Here is a link to the sscan record documentation: http://www.aps.anl.gov/bcda/synApps/sscan/sscanRecord.html
We are interested in developing a python client for the simple 1D scan use-case. We do not use the referenced 'saveData' software module.