Thermal transfer media requires ribbon for printing while direct thermal media does not. To determine if you have direct thermal media used by your printer, perform a media scratch test.
Scratch the print surface of the media with a fingernail or pen cap. Press firmly and quickly while dragging the fingernail or pen cap across the media surface.
Direct thermal media is chemically treated to print (expose) when heat is applied. This test method uses friction heat to expose the media.
Check if a black mark appears on the media? If it does, the media is of a Direct Thermal type and ribbon is NOT required for printing. If no mark appears, the media is of a Thermal Transfer type and a ribbon is required to print on this media—your ZD410d printer does not support printing on this type of media.
