Built in HDD on Canon Large Format Printers

Getting a large format printer with a hard disk drive allows you to speed up your company’s workflow. In terms of accessing, reprinting, and sharing files, a HDD gets your system moving quickly!

Most home printers won’t require a HDD. When printing single jobs in A4, the processing required is enough for a small home device and home network. However, when the size of the files and the amount of jobs increase, the amount of memory required also naturally increases.

Therefore, storing some files on a hard disk drive means you don’t have to keep sending them over the network, and allows for faster processing. One of the reasons that large format printers are much faster is the amount of memory on the machines, which means less large network traffic.

Some printers come with a solid state drive, or SSD, which is a faster method of storing data on your large format printer.

What Benefits Do You Get From a HDD?

On the Canon imagePROGRAF printers you can save print jobs to the built-in hard disk (if equipped). Save time having to use a computer, just print from the operation screen on the printer.

When you send a job to the printer you can either save it on the HDD to be printed later, or save it after it’s been printed, just in case you may want more copies. If printing it later, the desired quantity of prints can be set without returning to the PC. Simple reprinting, if an error occurs.

For example, if you run out of paper in the middle of printing, you can resume printing after loading a new roll. Once again, all via the touch-screen on the printer, no need to return to the PC to resend the job.

Keeping Your Data Secure

Don’t forget, PIN protected mailboxes can also be set up on the HDD if they wish to keep your work a little more secure!

Furthermore, it’s important to remove the HDD when your large format printer has reached the end of its life. The Canon TM305 has an option for fast and secure deletion for your peace of mind, however, keeping hold of your old hard disks would create an extra layer of protection for highly sensitive data.

With most printers, even home printers, there will be a small amount of job history even with a HDD. The Canon TM300, which has no HDD, has a print history of around 10 jobs, which increases to 500 in the TM305. This is good for you! It means you can find old jobs much more easily. However, it means that secure data won’t “flush through” quickly.

Time is money, and making sure that your large format printer is working quickly is important! Look into whether your operation can benefit from a machine with a HDD.