Review: MemoPal Online Backup

http://www.backupreview.info

Backup Review Rating:

(4 stars out of possible 5)

http://www.MemoPal.com

Summary

MemoPal is positioned as a windows (Mac was released in June 2008; Linux and IPhone versions are on the drawing board) client backup and cloud storage application, launched by an Italian group of software engineers. MemoPal started developing its applications in December 2007 and in short period of time, in April 2008, it officially launched.

Considering the age of the company, we are very impressed with its growth and its track record so far. As some online backup providers, like MediaMax (formerly known as Streamload; and recently known as TheLinkUp), OmniDrive and Xdrive slowly joining the dead pool, MemoPal is growing and excels not only in English, but also in many other languages. MemoPal is currently available in Chinese, French, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and English. MemoPal is planning to add 24 additional languages in the future to eventually provide online backup solutions in 35 languages, making it the leading site in multi-language services in the online backup industry.

Once downloaded, installed and configured on a system, MemoPal automatically and continuously backs up the files on the system to a remote server through a secure Internet connection, with 128 bit encryption, while transferring data and with 448 blow-fish encryption during storage. The backup is protected against malfunction, theft and human error. Recent press releases indicate that the number of users subscribing to its services is as high as 1,000 users per day.

MemoPal offers its subscribers a 150 GB of scalable space for $49 per year, where as Carbonite and Mozy charge $50 and $55 per year, respectively for unlimited space; and Idrive charges $50 for 150 GB. MemoPal also offers $99 per year for 250 GB of space. MemoPal doesn’t offer unlimited online backup services, however, a typical online backup user utilizes only 20 GB of space. Therefore, limiting space might not affect most users.

You can download and use a fully functional trial version (7 day trial) of the software with 1 GB of backup space. The trial account allows you to upload data for seven days, and you only have 90 days to recover your data. The trial version automatically ignores large files even if they are selected for backup.

The RAID 5 technology that has been pressed into service to create this software ensures that triple copies of the user’s data content are maintained across servers located in three different continents so that data is not lost in the event of disaster and natural calamities.

The MemoPal Global File System (MGFS) is a checksum-base cross-file compression algorithm that is offered at a very nominal rate of $0.40 per year per GB and is intended to transfer files quickly and safely. The backup compression technology creates a back up of the identical parts of files and links them to different files that use that part several times as per demand – using server side user data similarities management. This ensures efficient use of resources and security for the files and folders.

Files are uploaded to MemoPal very quickly using the client side de-duplication functionality, which is faster than block-level incremental backup.

File versioning and multi-user collaboration features make it possible to store and share different versions of a file in the remote server for access, collaboration or restoration. Damaged files can be restored into the system from the backup at the remote MemoPal server with ease. The ‘One Click sharing’ feature allows multiple users to share large files with co-workers, friends and/or relatives, by using a single right click and emailing invitations.

The backup system works in real time. All files saved on the system are automatically backed up into the remote server. The scalable, on demand system is designed to allow users to increase space at any time. The software monitors system usage parameters and adjusts to the user needs while the process of backup happens discretely and effectively in the background.

The advanced search engine that helps locate files on the remote server is easy to use.

If you accidentally delete your files, MemoPal doesn’t delete your files as other competitors do. This is excellent service as human error makes up a significant proportion of data loss and deletion. MemoPal gives priorities to open files while it syncs and backs up, resulting in real time solution.

To summarize the main features of MemoPal

• Up to 100 million TBytes storable in a single file system
• Checksum-based archiving
• Native data encryption and compression
• RAID 5-like geographical redundancy
• Native File Indexing
• Hot-add scalability
• Native Hardware Health Monitoring
• Sync Real-Time
• Versioning
• Searches
• Single-user Multi computer
• 1-click sharing
• Web access: Access via browser or WebDav

Company Information:
Location of company: Rome, Italy (Google Map)
CEO: Marco Trombetti
Positioning: Vast storage at affordable prices for small and medium businesses, globally
Employees: 14
Funding: Raised $1 Million USD
Revenue: Unknown, company confidential
Platform: Multi-platform, including:

• Windows XP (supported)
• Windows Vista (supported)
• Windows Server (supported)
• Mac -Universal Platform (supported)
• Linux and *nix (Private Beta, Public in August 2008)
• IPhone (Alpha, Public in September 2008)
• Mobile devices (Development to Start in September 2008)

Getting started with MemoPal

MemoPal offers a low cost online cloud storage facility with 150 GB of server storage space at a cost of $49 per annum and additional storage facilities on request. The company has positioned itself in the European market and is competing against Diino, Carbonite, Mozy, Idrive, NovaStor, Steek, KeepIt, DataDepositBox, Intronis and others.

A fully functional trial version with 1 GB storage facility and limited file size upload and download is offered to clients for the purpose of giving them a feel of the software. Like most cloud storage software in the market niche, it offers a scalable and flexible storage facility and client side control panels for ease of access. MemoPal’s unique MemoPal Global File System (MGFS) and its security algorithms make it wholly attractive to those who obsess on data security, redundancy and disaster recovery.

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