Microsoft Releases Data Recovery Tool For Sidekick Customers

Microsoft has released a tool for T-Mobile Sidekick users that aims to help them recover lost personal data from their mobile devices as both companies undergo a massive effort to repair a database glitch and regain credibility with their customers.

The Microsoft tool has been anticipated for the past week and a half, when a server glitch in Danger, a Microsoft subsidiary that hosts the Sidekick service, obliterated some T-Mobile customers' personal data from their Sidekick smartphones.

Among the personal data lost were contacts, phone numbers, calendar appointments, personal apps and photos. However, Microsoft executives affirmed last week that the outage only affected a "minority" of Sidekick customers.

To access the tool, affected Sidekick customers can go to the My T-Mobile Web page, which will enable them to recover data lost after Oct. 1, Microsoft said in a statement. The tool, however, only has the ability to restore users' contact information, but Microsoft said that it hopes to be able to recover photos, game scores, calendars and other important personal data.

Since the outage, T-Mobile has put its sales of Sidekick on hold indefinitely as Microsoft works to stabilize its platform and repair gaping database holes.

Microsoft acquired Danger last year, and currently manages its servers that store Sidekick customer information.

Both Microsoft and T-Mobile were bombarded with a firestorm of criticism since the database outage a week and a half ago. The incident was ill-timed in light of Microsoft's need to gain credibility in the security space and T-Mobile's struggle to stay competitive against other smartphone vendors.