Missing Sidekick data may be gone for good

Most of them don't look like this today.

(Credit: CNET)

It looks as though the current Sidekick outage is turning into a bigger mess for T-Mobile. The company has just published an apology to Sidekick users who've been without many important services for a few days--and says that because of a server error at Danger (a Microsoft subsidiary), affected users might not get their data back at all.

This is terrible news for some Sidekick users out there and is also one of the largest fails in cloud computing in recent memory. T-Mobile has already offered affected users a free month of service, but that was a few days ago when it seemed the problem was on its way to being resolved. Now, some users are looking at not having their data restored at all. Those whose data hasn't already been recovered will likely have to rebuild their contact lists, calendars, to-dos, and other personal content themselves.

The problem is that many users didn't back up that data. A friend of mine never backed up her Sidekick LX because Danger's server-side infrastructure made it redundant--or so she thought.

T-Mobile says they'll issue another update on Monday, October 12, which will communicate the current status of the repair.

One important point T-Mobile is communicating to affected users is not to power off your device. On its Web site, T-Mobile warns, "We continue to advise customers to NOT reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost." Good luck on Monday.

[mbenedict]

Danger has had problems and long outtages for years and years... what's going on there? <br /><br />I'm still not sure why Microsoft bought Danger last year since they doesn't even use MS technology, but now that MS owns Danger they have to clean house, roll some heads, and maybe integrate them into MS instead of letting it continue to be a separately run company.

[upuaut]

they probably bought it to have them develop Pink.

[gggg sssss]

ha ha linux + mySQL = crap

[iBuzz]

Roll some heads? I thought that mostly everyone from the Danger acquisition has either quit or been fired already.

[Orion Blastar]

This should teach people to back up their mobile data to their PCs and Macs and not count on the mobile carrier to back up their data for them. I happened to T-Mobile and it can happen to any mobile carrier.<br /><br />Expect class action law suits over this.

[shopramper]

850 contacts. Gone. Deleted. Just like that.<br />I'd be the first to sign up ofr the class-action lawsuit!

[JCPayne]

Nows your chance to get off the Sidekick... You can already see what will be heading your way.

[BACO6300]

Your kidding right, 850 contacts and you didn't make sure you had them backed up other than with T-moble. And now a possable lawsuit lol for what being to stupid to run your own phone. ha ha ha. Let me guess your the one that spilt the hot McDonalds coffee on yourself. lol

[SwissJay]

I'd say "Good luck" trying to prove you had 850 contacts, since there's not trace of them left...

[ITworker2009]

"The problem is that many users didn't back up that data."<br /><br />Are you kidding? "Cloud Computing" from billion dollar companies like Amazon, Google, and yes, in the case of this EPIC FAIL Microsoft. <br /><br />Turns out THEY, despite their billions of dollars and mega huge wiz bang data centers, DIDN'T HAVE A BACKUP. Period. But somehow, you blame the regular housewife. AMAZING. Are you on MS's payroll?

[ITworker2009]

And to clarify, "Cloud Computing" is advertised as a savior for all oi us from the pain and cost of all things IT, and make computing painless. HA!

[jandler]

turns out local computing ain't that safe neither. <br /> <br />more epic fail here <br /> <br />http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/snow-leopard-guest-account-bug-deleting-user-files-terrorizin/

[gggg sssss]

fear the cloud I say

[dredlew]

What is a class action suit gonna do for you? Nothing. Your data is gone and the only thing you *might* get back *if* the suit actually goes in your favor, is a couple dozen bucks. You're not getting millions of $, sorry. That's not how class action lawsuits work. So is it worth the trouble just to show T-Mobile that they messed up? I think they know very well and are trying the best they can to compensate the affected customers.<br /><br />Yes, T-Mobile should have a disaster backup-plan in place, I would expect nothing less from a provider that offers cloud services. However, fact is, you and you alone are responsible for your data. No technical/electronic device is safe from failure. If you don't have your data in at least two physically separate places at any given time, chances are, you will lose your data at some point.<br /><br />Most people do not understand backup until they have painfully lost data for the first time. Some, still don't understand it then and continue to lose it again and again.

[aaron_van]

dredlew said: "However, fact is, you and you alone are responsible for your data."<br /><br />Thank you. Well said. <br /><br />"A friend of mine never backed up her Sidekick LX because Danger's server-side infrastructure made it redundant--or so she thought."<br /><br />Redundant isn't redundant until you have the information in two locations at once. And while you think that the company housing your information is required to ensure your information is safe, fact of the matter is that, it's a luxury that they provide, not a requirement. Please refer back to dredlew's quote.

[Lerianis3]

aaron_van, actually... it is a requirement when you are PAYING FOR A BACKUP SERVICE, like you are for Sidekick devices. That is why any company worth it's salt has weekly backups, redundant networks (2X the capacity they need at one time), etc.<br />The courts have already said that if you are PAYING FOR A SERVICE, that these companies are REQUIRED to make sure that any data you give them is safe, even from hardware failure.

[gggg sssss]

@ Lerianis3 and where in your contract does it say that?

[tech_crazy]

@ gggg sssss <br /><br />Then you have probably not read warranty clause legalese like "express or implied". I am neither a Danger user nor have any financial interest in MS/Danger/T-Mobile but this is a huge lawsuit waiting to happen.<br /><br />How would you react if Hotmail/Yahoo/Gmail lost ALL your mails? Would you offer the same advice to back up all your data?

They should have bought one of those flash drives I've seen advertised. Microsoft should have bought a few more portable hard drives devices and backed up data held in trust. <br /> <br />Won't people learn! <br /> <br />Jp <br />Brisbane

[Tech Diva XXX]

But I;ve been reading on Engadget that the Sidekick had no way of backing up anything locally, it all relied on the cloud. So which is it?

[JCPayne]

Can't wait til they crash Yahoo too...

[etiahwhite]

That's crazy I couldn't imagine how I'd react...thank goodness i have an iphone and it backs up to my macbook...no worries here.

[wirelesscaller]

This happens pretty often, the first three years I worked for Tmobile then about every other year as well. This could all simply be prevented by having a similar setup as other smart devices, the ability to backup the device to one's home computer and having some sort of flash storage onboard for the contacts (if anyone who's reading this article is wondering, if the sidekick loses power and you're in an area of no signal you lose all your contacts until you get a signal and assuming they can restore their server). Due to the limitations of the sidekick it should never be considered a business essential device, in fact I would recommend if the person you're dealing with business wise organizes their life around the sidekick consider doing business with someone else, they have no back up and in the event you need to refer to them then you're sol (unless it's an illegal activity then feel safe and secure they'll lose your info in about 2 years). <br /> <br />Why Tmobile, Danger, and Microsoft doesn't allow a more permanent storage of information (not the sim since you can't store email addresses and other info, it's too limited) on the device or even allow a backup to the memory card is plainly stupid (MS has had this capability for pocket pcs since I can remember, symbian 60 allowed this as well). Now days we can encrypt our storage cards, password protect them, and they have the capacity to burn (plus it would allow all the ram on the device to be dedicated to processing), it would save them a lot of service calls, people will feel secure having access to their information, and this crap about keeping it as a dumb terminal is stupid if they're not going to do backups regularly so customers won't lose their information.

[cocoablini1]

Your data IS stored locally on the client and Microsoft apparently has called some ex-employees to come in and try to push the data from device back into the "cloud" and resync. It's imperative that users do not pull the battery or hard reset the device-or the data is lost for good. People who have run out of battery need to plug it into the outlet sooner than later. Loss of power will have the device store it's flash memory for a good long time but a battery disconnect is very bad.<br />As a previous employee at Danger, I was always disappointed that the data was held hostage by the cloud. It was intentional to not allow importing and exporting of data like contacts(unless you purchased the 35 dollar Intellisync product or the discontinued Missing Sync product) because that made conversion to another product that much harder to do. A user would have to laboriously email or bluetooth single contacts-and now email doesn't even work.<br />With that said, the Android devices are cloud devices as well, but I would expect Google to be 1000% more respectful of customers' data and at least have redundant systems. The whole episode gives Cloud computing a bad name because Danger, under previous management, was more interested in selling hardware and Microsoft lost the people in charge of the Danger service.<br />I think a better solution for cloud computing would be the Android devices. They are essentially designed and built by original Danger employees. Think of the Sidekick, adapted for today's standards, with a bulletproof cloud and good services. Even the price is the same. The only thing the Sidekick has going for it now is a nice physical keyboard. A 100% lost opportunity by Danger and T-Mobile.

[gggg sssss]

so you are they guy that designed that POS?

[tech_crazy]

@gggg sssss<br /><br />It seems you designed the POS but you are blaming it on him/her for blowing the whistle.

[A41202813]

Having A Piece Of Data, With Few Or No Backups Made By Yourself, Is Like Having An Endangered Animal Or Plant.<br /><br />It Is An Extinction In The Making.

[Dan7637]

well this is also your people's fault<br /><br />you should backup your contacts and data

[cchanote]

At home, I have this software that recover everything on a disk drive even formated and reinstalled OS. I was recovering accidentally deleted photos of all my life by several clicks. How hard to do it for MS then? I think they are not putting enough effort because this will cost MS a lot of money.

[cocoablini1]

This effort is costing MSFT near 1 million I day I think. It was almost 500,000 a day years ago when the last outage occured. But that outage was a server shutdown-not a server wipe.<br />Now, TMobile may be able to sue Microsoft for breach of contract and fraud-who knows?

[heulenwolf]

Can somebody explain how the Sidekick/Danger system was supposed to work? I don't see why letting the battery run out would be a problem. Is all that data never stored in non-volatile memory on the phone such that if power is lost, the data remains? If I yank the battery on my Envy2 and put it back in, no data is lost. Or were these data never stored on the phone at all, completely dependent upon the wireless connection and the Danger servers to look up contacts and calendar entries? If either, its a pretty ****-poor system design to begin with. Old palm pilots with 2 and 4MB of internal memory could hold thousands of contacts, calendar entries, tasks, e-mails, etc. There certainly shouldn't be a data storage limitation requiring the cloud-only storage. So, what am I missing that's making the server outage such a big deal?

[heulenwolf]

Wow, I didn't know p-i-s-s was a bad word here. That's what's starred out in my previous post. I thought it had a nice alliteration to it. Sorry CNet nannies. The technical question about why the servers going down means you'll lose all your data off your phone, remains...

[Gianni_Simplicio]

Remind me again why the sidekick doesn't have a megabyte to back up contacts and calendars locally? How do you get this information in the subway?

[AppleSuxLeo]

Like someone is going to have "valuable data" on a device like this , LOL<br />People like Paris Hilton use these to chat , get a clue.<br />It`s like the Verizon ad where the dad "Twitters" "I am sitting on the porch" (who gives a S***) <br />All this "social networking" stuff is a bunch of garbage...they just make up these services to get "page-views" And gullible people use them every day.

[JCPayne]

If you go into the sidekick's software you'll see it links to servers at t-mobile.hiptop.com