When you’re shopping around for a new copier, it’s important to know that these days most most copiers will enable you to store information right on the copier hard drive.
Just like a computer, most copiers contain hard drives that allow you to store and retrieve documents. Nearly every copier we sell allows you to store documents for easy access.
Why would you want to store documents on a copier hard drive in the first place? The best use of this feature is storing frequently used documents for instant access. For example, if job applicants are frequently coming through your doors, and you require them to fill out a form, you can store this form on your copier to easily print it out whenever you need it.
Documents, forms, and templates you use every day can be stored on a copier hard drive — ready for you when you need them.
Examples of documents to store on a copier hard drive:
- Applications
- Contractor sign-in sheets
- Documents every new employee needs to fill out
- Directions to other locations
- Frequently used templates
- and so on!
In addition to storing and retrieving documents on the copier hard drive, most copiers also allow you to print documents from a USB drive. That means if, for whatever reason, you don’t feel comfortable storing documents on the copier hard drive you can store them on a USB drive instead.
Storing documents on a USB drive, rather than the copier hard drive, is also a good idea when it comes to personal and confidential documents. If you often need to print these types of documents, and would rather not store them on the copier for your whole office to see, putting them on your own USB drive is a smart alternative.
Copier hard drive sizes vary depending on the model, but when you’re talking about printable documents you should be able to fit fair amount of them on a hard drive no matter what the size. Again, if you happen to run out of room on your copier hard drive you could always expand that storage with a USB drive, or multiple drives.
When you’re storing documents on any type of shared device you should always approach it with some degree of caution. Even if you trust everyone you share your work space with, there’s no telling who’s hands the copier may end up in when the lease is up, or it’s sold to a new owner.
Copiers have processes in place to help secure your data, but it’s always a good idea for you to be proactive in protecting your data as well. There are many steps you can take to ensure the data on your copier hard drive never ends up with someone else.
Please see the next blog article with details on how you can secure data on your hard drive, and how to properly erase it when you decide it’s no longer needed.