After a recent outage for nearly 800,000 T-Mobile Sidekick subscribers, leaving many users without the use of their mobile device features, Microsoft has confirmed a restoration process is about to begin shortly. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the data recovery will start with users" contacts, than other features like calendars.
Microsoft and T-Mobile reported that there was an outage in the core database, where user"s data is stored, which caused the data loss. The backup of the core database also suffered from an outage, which appeared that many users" data would be permanently lost.
Microsoft also confirmed in their press release that the data loss wouldn"t happen again:
"We will continue working closely with T-Mobile to restore user data as quickly as possible. We are eager to deliver the level of reliable service that our incredibly loyal customers have become accustomed to, and we are taking immediate steps to help ensure this does not happen again. Specifically, we have made changes to improve the overall stability of the Sidekick service and initiated a more resilient backup process to ensure that the integrity of our database backups is maintained."
Microsoft was able to piece back the database, saving most of the data, if not all of it, and will begin restoring user"s data starting with contacts. The recovery process for other items including calendars, notes, tasks, photographs and high scores will be restored shortly.
CNet reported that the majority of loyal T-Mobile Sidekick users are hearing impaired. Many deaf users prefer the device because of its keyboard, instant messaging abilities and the fact it has a data-only option.