It is quite obvious that nowadays, a single individual handles more personal data – whether we are talking about pictures, software, videos, and so on and so forth – than most companies 10 to 15 years ago. This is a big shift. Gone are the days when you could fill a CD with 100 different video games, or when a 50 GB hard drive was considered overkill. Today, we need 20 GB of free spaces just to get our smartphones running.
And with the increasing amount of data we are handling rose the need for adequate and effective storage solutions. Obviously, the notion of the perfect storage solution depends entirely on what you want. Are you looking for a free, reliable storage space where you can dump your old pictures and essays? Are you the type of person that values privacy and security? Do you transfer large amounts of data on a regular basis and need decent transfer speed?
Then MEGA might right up your alley. In this article, we will be taking a brief look at the security aspects, quality, upload speed and file sharing policies of this great service. In an extensive review made by Cloud Storage Advice, further information regarding the Mega Cloud security can be found.
General Information about the MEGA
MEGA is the second business venture of Kim Dotcom, an infamous and controversial figure who was arrested and charged for copyright infringement claims. How is this information relevant to this review? Despite his controversial public life, Dotcom is an ardent critic of the industry’s stances on privacy and file sharing policies.
After he was arrested, he decided to take a different business approach and founded MEGA. And fortunately, Dotcom stuck to his views in regards to personal privacy and put together one of the most secure storage services in the industry.
Pricing and Business Model
First off, everybody can create a free MEGA account that comes with a 15 GB storage limit. As you are transferring files to the cloud, MEGA will keep a live record of it and automatically calculate your monthly limit. Once you reach the data cap, the down/uploads will be halted, a moment in which they will give you two choices: you either wait for the monthly bandwidth to reset or upgrade your plan.
This might sound bad, but unless you are using it for work or other business purposes (case in which you would have opted for a better plan anyway), the data and bandwidth cap is more than enough to cover your needs as a casual user. If this is still not enough, you can opt for the first-tier plan that offers 200 GB of storage space and a 1 TB monthly bandwidth limit for just 5 euros.
Security
Since security is the big selling point of MEGA, everybody would expect the company to deliver in this aspect. As soon as you start creating your account, they will assess how weak the password is and the likelihood of it getting cracked.
Today, this function is quite standard, so most people will be understandably unimpressed by it. But you will start seeing the beauty of this cloud storage service once you realize that MEGA puts you, personally, in charge of your own encryption keys. During transfers, the files are encrypted end-to-end, so you do not have to worry about your data being intercepted during this process.
While this might be a little too much micromanagement for some users, the bottom line is that your data will be safe and secured. Nobody, not even MEGA employees, can see what files you have stored. You are the only person with full access to them.
File Backup and Restoration
Mega’s UI is very intuitive and easy to use. It is completely browser and web-based, and it functions very similarly to Google Drive, which makes the transition between the two services almost unnoticeable. The storage service comes with a drive space, where you can create folders and drag and drop your files. The service also has a desktop client that is compatible with Mac, Linux and Microsoft Windows which is fully synced with the mobile apps.
As for MEGA file restoration, it is as simple to use as the backup function by simply right-clicking on said folder or file and pressing the download button. A neat little feature is that you can choose to save the data automatically as a ZIP file, which will significantly reduce the amount of bandwidth you use – this is especially useful for users with low tier MEGA plans.
Conclusion
When it comes to cloud storage services, Mega offers one of the fairest and most accessible business models on the market. While MEGA could do better in terms of download speeds, it excels from a security and privacy standpoint, as it lets users personally encrypt their data, not to mention the fact that the files can’t be intercepted during transit. To conclude, if you are looking for a viable alternative to the other storage services currently on the market that delivers on many aspects, Mega might be the right choice for you.