T-Mobile offers $100 to Sidekick users, says some data recovery "may be possible"

The damage control continues as T-Mobile, hoping to assuage enraged Sidekick customers, says it will offer $100 credits to anyone who suffered a "significant and permanent" of personal data. Meanwhile, we finally get some details on what the heck happened.

First up: T-Mobile promised we'd get a fresh update Monday on the massive server meltdown that left many a  Sidekick user without data access for nearly a week, and we finally got an e-mail at close to 9 p.m. ET.

Anyway, here's the gist of it: T-Mobile claims that it and Microsoft (which now owns Danger, the original developer of the Sidekick) have made "significant progress" over the weekend on the corrupted servers, "restoring service to virtually every customer," and that teams engineers are working "around the clock" to restore any personal information—such as contacts, calendar events, photos, and e-mail—that Sidekick users may have lost in the wake of the outage.

Over the weekend, T-Mobile had been pretty glum about the chance of saving any lost Sidekick data, but last night's e-mail was considerably more upbeat, noting that "recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost data content may now be possible."

That said, T-Mobile says it will hand out $100 "customer appreciation" cards for those who end up suffering "significant and permanent" data loss. Details about the credits (which you can use for T-Mobile "products and services," or for paying your monthly bill) will arrive in the next 14 days, and require "no action" on your part, according to the carrier.

Meanwhile, details are still sketchy on what caused the server meltdown, which first hit about a week and a half ago, in the first place, and why backup systems failed to save some user data.

A Microsoft rep told The New York Times that it was Danger's software that failed, and that "in the process" of trying to recover from the server failure, the backup Sidekick server got corrupted, as well.

So, why all the trouble recovering lost Sidekick user data (which is primarily stored "in the cloud" on the Sidekick server)? Microsoft is blaming a hodgepodge of Danger and third-party server software, which makes it "incredibly complex" to sort out the mess, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the meantime, the Times reports that the best thing to do if you're still missing contacts or other personal info from your Sidekick is to keep it powered up, and do not take out the battery; apparently, if your Sidekick loses power, any remaining data stored locally on the phone will be lost.

Of course, the long-term issue is whether the Sidekick brand can recover from this epic snafu. Even if T-Mobile and Microsoft do manage to restore everyone's data, there's that sticky matter of trust: Will our Sidekicks work today, tomorrow, and next week? Can we count on our contacts and calendar events surviving the next 24 hours?  Why buy a Sidekick at all if our data's at risk? (Of course, as I pointed out yesterday, you should always back up your data, no matter how much you trust your gadgets.)

So, Sidekick users .... has anyone gotten all their data back? Who's still high and dry? Will a $100 credit help? Finally, would you ever buy a Sidekick again?