Online Backup Solution Reviews

Here’s how Memopal describes their security in their online FAQ: “Memopal utilizes different encryption systems in every phase. Data is encrypted by the program and divided into different parts, unreconstructible by intercepting any single part, and is sent by a protected SSL channel to the Memopal servers. This type of communication is the same used by online banks and credit card payment systems. The files are not subsequently reconstructed, but rather the single parts of the files are archived on different servers located on three continents and encrypted with the most modern algorithms.”

In another FAQ about data being safe from hackers this is the response: “All applications can be subject to attempts of sabotage. No one can consider an application to be completely secure. For this reason the protection systems we use for the data are not resident in the software but rather on the servers distributed across three continents. In addition, none of the servers alone contain complete information about the files or their owners. It would take more than 100 years of continuous attempts to succeed in translating a single file intercepted during transfer, and for this reason we can assert that user data is secure.”

On their front page they do say that they use 448 bit encryption, which I’m assuming is Blowfish encryption. Overall, I would like to know more about the details and I’m disappointed that they don’t offer the option for user management of keys like many other providers do. Their marketing of their security is good and my sense is that they have provided a secure solution; however, since they don’t over the option to manage my own keys I can’t feel comfortable giving them the highest marks on security.

Memopal is very easy to use. The client application is simple to navigate and most of the functionality is available from the main screen. You don’t have to navigate a bunch of menus to find things. Memopal drives a lot of the functionality from web interfaces. If you click on the “Search” button in the client then a web browser pops up with a simple search interface. The “Control Panel” is also a web interface and the usage is quite intuitive. Memopal just feels different from the other online backup providers that I’ve used. The best word to describe it is innovative. Some of the other providers that I’ve tried have multiple ways to accomplish the same task, but Memopal takes a simplified approach with generally one way to do something. It’s simple, it works and it’s intuitive.

Memopal costs are similar to the other major online backup providers. They don’t offer an unlimited option, but their 150GB for $49.00 a year is very reasonable. I prefer knowing what my limit is rather than finding out that I’ve crossed some unpublished limit in a so called “unlimited” plan. The real value for Memopal is that you can use your account capacity across several computers. There are other providers that offer this, but Memopal has the lowest cost per GB that I’ve found so far. For those that have multiple computers this is a great solution.

If you visit the about page on memopal.com this is what they say about themselves: “Memopal is a European start-up with an innovation-oriented management and a successful track record in the world of e-business and industry. The company was financed by Business Angels with an initial round of investment of approximately 1 million dollars.”

I didn’t find anything derogatory about Memopal, but I also couldn’t find a European equivalent to the Better Business Bureau. It’s fairly obvious that these guys are in start-up mode and don’t have a long track record. I just don’t have enough information either way to grade them in terms of accreditations. I’ve decided that for now I’ll give them a B and continue to look for more data.