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Server Failure Destroys Sidekick Users' Backup Data

Expanding on the T-Mobile data loss mentioned in an update to an earlier story, reader stigmato writes "T-Mobile's popular Sidekick brand of devices and their users are facing a data loss crisis. According to the T-Mobile community forums, Microsoft/Danger has suffered a catastrophic server failure that has resulted in the loss of all personal data not stored on the phones. They are advising users not to turn off their phones, reset them or let the batteries die in them for fear of losing what data remains on the devices. Microsoft/Danger has stated that they cannot recover the data but are still trying. Already people are clamoring for a lawsuit. Should we continue to trust cloud computing content providers with our personal information? Perhaps they should have used ZFS or btrfs for their servers."

8 of 304 comments (clear)

  1. As if millions... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    homemade cell phone porn videos cried out and then were silenced.

  2. Sidekick by nadaou · · Score: 4, Funny

    shit, is that TSR still hanging around? goodness!

    If the above means anything to you, "apt-get install joe mc" will make you smile as well.

    --
    ~.~
    I'm a peripheral visionary.
  3. Microsoft was testing the US gov edition by AHuxley · · Score: 5, Funny

    Right feature, wrong server? MS understands the need for a "Rose Mary Stretch" default setting.
    The congress critters have learned a lot from the "terrible mistake" of email backups.
    From cute page boys to Iran contra, MS can market this as a feature.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  4. Re:A server failure? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    A server failure caused all of the data to be lost?

    Maybe it was the server failure . . . maybe they only had one . . . ?

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  5. Re:"they should have used ZFS or btrfs" by mike260 · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are plausible reports as to how this happened here.

    tl;dr - They tried upgrading their SAN without making a backup first, and the upgrade somehow hosed the entire SAN.

  6. Yesterday... all those backups seemed a waste... by argent · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yesterday,
    All those backups seemed a waste of pay.
    Now my database has gone away.
    Oh I believe in yesterday.

    Suddenly,
    There's not half the files there used to be,
    And there's a milestone hanging over me
    The system crashed so suddenly.

    I pushed something wrong
    What it was I could not say.
    Now all my data's gone and I long for yesterday-ay-ay-ay.

    Yesterday,
    Need for backup seemed so far away.
    Seemed my data were all here to stay,
    Now I believe in yesterday.

    Anonymous

  7. Re:"they should have used ZFS or btrfs" by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not the gray hair (or what is left of it!), and those aren't wrinkles. They're laugh lines from the terrific amusement when some youngster ignores the hard-won lessons of the last millennium, especially when they have to call me or someone like me to clean up the mess. The laugh lines are especially deep from when I collected a paper trail to show where their supervisor ignored my written warnings about the danger: those are used with caution, but can be very, very handy.

  8. Re:It is an ancient story, endlessly repeated by harmonise · · Score: 4, Funny

    Get into the shower with BubbaSoft and you know what is going to happen.

    Just don't drop the SOAP.

    --
    Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.