T-Mobile: we probably lost all your Sidekick data
by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 10th 2009 at 3:45PM


Well, this is shaping up to be one of the biggest disasters in the history of cloud computing, and certainly the largest blow to Danger and the Sidekick platform: T-Mobile's now reporting that personal data stored on Sidekicks has "almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger." They're still looking for a way to recover it, but they're not giving users a lot of hope -- meanwhile, servers are still on the fritz and customers are being advised not to let their devices power down because anything that's still on there will be lost the next time the device is turned on. Another communique is promised from T-Mobile on Monday to give everyone a status update on the recovery efforts, but at this point, it's not looking good at all.

Update: Apparently T-Mobile has paused the sale of new Sidekicks, as all models are now listed as "temporarily out of stock" on the company's site. Additionally, a warning as been added to the post on T-Mobile's forum which reads: "Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power." Scary stuff, Sidekickers.

Missing Sidekick data may be gone for good
by Matt Hickey

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.

Sidekick outage casts cloud over Microsoft
by Ina Fried


The massive data failure at Microsoft's Danger subsidiary threatens to put a dark cloud over the company's broader "software plus services" strategy.
A key tenet of that approach is that businesses and consumers can trust Microsoft to reliably store valuable data on their servers.

T-Mobile Sidekick Slide
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET
A week ago, though, Microsoft's Danger unit experienced a huge outage that left many T-Mobile Sidekick users without access to their calendar, address book, and other key data. That's because the Sidekick keeps nearly all its data in the cloud as opposed to keeping the primary copy on the devices themselves.
Things got even worse on Saturday, as Microsoft said in a statement that data not recovered thus far may be permanently lost. It's not immediately clear how many people lost their data. The outage earlier in the week affected a broad swath of Sidekick users, though many had data return during the week.
While outages in the cloud computing world are common (one need only look at recent issues with Twitter or Gmail), data losses are another story. And this one stands as one of the more stunning ones in recent memory.
The Danger outage comes just a month before Microsoft is expected to launch its operating system in the cloud--Windows Azure. That announcement is expected at November's Professional Developer Conference. One of the characteristics of Azure is that programs written for it can be run only via Microsoft's data centers and not on a company's own servers.
It should be pointed out that the Azure setup is entirely different from what Danger uses: the Sidekick uses an architecture Microsoft inherited rather than built (Microsoft bought Danger last year). Still, the failure would seem to be enough to give any CIO pause.
Update, 2 p.m. PT, 10/11/2009: I asked Microsoft for comment Saturday when I was writing this, in particular as to how the rest of its cloud might differ from the Danger set up.
Microsoft said Sunday that its the fabric controller that manages the Azure service is built with redundancy in mind.
"We write multiple replicas of user data to multiple devices so that the data is available in a situation where a single or multiple physical nodes may fail," Windows Azure general manager Doug Hauger said in a statement to CNET News.
That doesn't mean Azure is immune from data loss, though I'm told an entire data center would have to be wiped out, as opposed to just a server or collection of servers. I'd be interested to know whether Microsoft will also offer multiple location options so that users that want to can have their data in more than one physical spot as well.
But that's just one of many questions raised by this spectacular failure. Among the other questions still looming large in my head are:
1. What backup procedures did Danger have?
2. Just how many of T-mobile's Sidekick customers lost their data? (Feel free to let me know, Sidekick users.)
3. What impact will this have on the Pink project, which was largely seen as the evolution of the Sidekick, and some say was already in trouble?
4. Will this hurt Microsoft's efforts to build a brand around the notion of Windows Phone even though that uses a different architecture (with its own challenges, to be sure)?

Microsoft said Sunday that its the fabric controller that manages the Azure service is built with redundancy in mind.
"We write multiple replicas of user data to multiple devices so that the data is available in a situation where a single or multiple physical nodes may fail," Windows Azure general manager Doug Hauger said in a statement to CNET News.

Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low. As such, we wanted to share this news with you and offer some tips and suggestions to help you rebuild your personal content. You can find these tips at the T-Mobile Sidekick Forums (http://www.t-mobile.com/sidekick ). We encourage you to visit the Forums on a regular basis to access the latest updates as well as FAQs regarding this service disruption.

Sidekick customers, during this service disruption, please DO NOT remove your battery, reset your Sidekick, or allow it to lose power.

Uvek mi je bila glupava ta koncepcija glupih terminala

Nekada je to imalo lepu i dobru primenu... Danas je however deprecated...

T-MOBILE STATUS UPDATE ON SIDEKICK DATA DISRUPTION, MON., OCT. 12

Dear valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers:

We are thankful for your continued patience as Microsoft/Danger continues to work on preserving platform stability and restoring all services for our Sidekick customers. We have made significant progress this past weekend, restoring services to virtually every customer. Microsoft/Danger has teams of experts in place who are working around-the-clock to ensure this stability is maintained.

Regarding those of you who have lost personal content, T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger continue to do all we can to recover and return any lost information. Recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible. We will continue to keep you updated on this front; we know how important this is to you.

In the event certain customers have experienced a significant and permanent loss of personal content, T-Mobile will be sending these customers a $100 customer appreciation card. This will be in addition to the free month of data service that already went to Sidekick data customers. This card can be used towards T-Mobile products and services, or a customer’s T-Mobile bill. For those who fall into this category, details will be sent out in the next 14 days – there is no action needed on the part of these customers. We however remain hopeful that for the majority of our customers, personal content can be recovered.

Sidekick customers can continue to visit T-Mobile Sidekick Forums (http://www.t-mobile.com/sidekick) on a regular basis to access the latest updates, as well as FAQs regarding this service disruption. The Forums also offers tips and suggestions for rebuilding content on your device.

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the_tosic: @nedeljko http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/

ontopic: ok je da kontakti postoje i na nekom serveru, zbog sinhronizacije izmedju mobilnog, laptopa, desktopa..... ali da stoje samo na serveru wtf sta kad odem na neku planinu bez 3G-a:)

the_tosic:...ok je da kontakti postoje i na nekom serveru, zbog sinhronizacije izmedju mobilnog, laptopa, desktopa..... ali da stoje samo na serveru wtf sta kad odem na neku planinu bez 3G-a:)

Ivan Dimkovic: Ehm... gde ti vidis ovde $100?

Pise da ti daju nekakvo parce papira koje se zove "Customer appreciation card" sa kojim mozes da kupujes T-Mobile proizvode u vrednosti $100.

U mom recniku, to nema veze sa papirnom novcanicom sa slikom izvesnog Bendzamina Frenklina na njoj.

Takodje, mislim da bi trebalo da im daju $0 - sa parcetom papira "Mozemo vam dati onoliko koliko vi vrednujete svoje podatke - a to je $0" - posto svako ko svoje podatke drzi u nekakvom "Cloud-u" ocigledno ne ceni svoje podatke dovoljno.

Horvat: koji je to smisao da imas mobilni telefon i da kontakte nemas na telefonu nego na "nekom tamo" serveru?!

i sta,dodjes u deo koji nije pokriven mrezom, a broj ti treba,nema sanse da ga saznas
ili odes u roming,moras da puknes dobru lovu da bi video imenik?

zasto to??
i zasto je to iko kupio!?

the_tosic: @nedeljko Meni je mnogo bolji mind-reader, i monitor u naocarima :)

Steve Ballmer must have busted out his secret stash of magic dust, as Microsoft has just come out with the announcement that it has recovered "most, if not all, customer data" that was lost during the recent Sidekick debacle. Following the wildly embarassing fiasco attributed to a "system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up," T-Mobile and Redmond have "rebuilt the system component by component" and now promise to restore data to affected users in the most expedient fashion possible. Guess that means you won't be getting $100 from T-Mobile for losing your Tetris high scores after all.

degojs: 4. Podaci su vraćeni

degojs: Podaci su vraćeni.

Nedeljko: Da li su podaci izgubljeni ili vraćeni?

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