Lost Sidekick mobile data recovered

Microsoft today said it successfully recovered most of the contacts, photos and related data believed lost by T-Mobile USA Sidekick users following technical snafus. According to Microsoft, most if not all Sidekick customer data has been recovered, and the software giant will begin restoring the content as quickly as possible--its efforts will begin with personal contacts, followed by calendar information, notes, tasks and pictures.

Earlier this week, Microsoft warned Sidekick users that internal server problems would result in the permanent loss of contacts, photos and other personal data and content. The Wall Street Journal reported Sidekick users have battled connectivity issues for more than a week, blocking access to contacts, calendar appointments and related data stored on Microsoft servers. While Microsoft and T-Mobile said they restored online access to the device, a message posted Saturday on the operator's website warned that Sidekick personal content not stored locally on the subscriber's device was "almost certainly" lost due to server malfunction.

Microsoft suffered the brunt of the resulting public backlash as T-Mobile USA scrambled to offer affected subscribers a free month of data services and a $100 gift card. On Wednesday, KamberEdelson LLC announced it had filed a class-action suit on behalf of customer Maureen Thompson, seeking relief and monetary damages for failure to protect the data and false advertising.

For more on the Sidekick data recovery:
- read this Wall Street Journal article

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