What is the difference between a toner cartridge and a drum cartridge?

Question

Toner cartridges come in 2 types. Some printers have cartridges that are made of 2 sections, one that houses the toner and the drum as well as the waste hopper.  Other printers accept a separate toner cartridge, and a separate drum cartridge.  The latter are usually color cartridges, except for Brother laser printers which almost always take type 2 (separate toner cartridge, and separate drum cartridge. Example the TN350 toner cartridge by Brother is separate the the DR350 drum cartridge).

Answer 1

While both of these components are vital to producing a print, it’s often a common misconception that toner cartridges and drum units are the same thing – although they’re not. In short, the toner cartridge is a container that contains the toner powder, whereas the drum unit is an electrically charged cylinder that transfers the powder onto paper. Without a drum unit, the toner powder is unable to be transferred onto a piece of paper, which is why both parts are essential components for producing a print.

Example the TN350 toner cartridge by Brother is separate with the DR350 drum cartridge where "DR" stands for the drum and "TN" stands for the toner cartridge.

Comments

The drum item I am viewing says it prints 12000 pages.  Does that mean it includes a cartridge that prints that many or that the drum needs to be replaced after printing that many pages?

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The Page yield is separate for both Toner cartridge and Drum, so if   it says 12000 pages means only for the Drum unit and not the cartridge.