Topic: Google's cloud concept is probably deeply flawed...

[Dash Jones]

You are smart enough to make the connections...

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/57927

The Sidekick was one of the first phones to keep all your e-mail, contacts, events, and photos in an online "cloud"; cool, right? But in the wake of a critical server outage more than a week ago, frustrated Sidekick users are learning the hard way that when things go wrong, cloud computing isn't all it's cracked up to be.

In what's shaping up to be one of the worst tech train wrecks of 2009, T-Mobile and Microsoft (owner of Sidekick developer Danger) admitted Saturday that any contact, events, or to-do lists that haven't already been restored following a massive server meltdown earlier this month are probably gone forever.

"Our teams continue to work around the clock in hopes of some way to recover this information," the message from T-Mobile reads. "However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low." The message promises an update sometime today (Monday the 12th).

Meanwhile, it's still not clear what caused the server outage—which left Sidekick users without any data access at all for days on end—in the first place (although there are some theories floating around). Tellingly, the Sidekick and Sidekick LX are currently listed as "Temporarily Out of Stock" on T-Mobile's Web site.

T-Mobile has already told Sidekick users that it will give them a month's worth of data for free in the wake of the outage, and the carrier also posted a F.A.Q. on how to restore your Sidekick contacts from vCard files, Outlook, or a SIM card.

But many Sidekick users looked to be out of luck Monday, with who-knows-how-many contacts, calendar events, to-dos, and e-mails vanishing into the ether. Indeed, more than a few angry users on T-Mobile's message boards were already grumbling about lawsuits.

In the end, though, nothing (short of a miracle on T-Mobile and/or Microsoft's part) will bring the lost data back, and that brings us to the moral of the story: Backup your data, especially the stuff that's floating up in a cloud somewhere.

Now, keeping recent backups of your most critical data—including your contacts and e-mail—to an external hard drive or a stack of DVDs is a time-consuming pain, no question, and if you're lucky, you'll never even use them.

But here's the thing: Stuff happens, and you don't want to be high and dry when it inevitably does. (I'm reminded of this classic line from an old Richard Gere movie: "First thing that I ask a new client is "Have you been saving up for a rainy day? Guess what? It's rainnnniiiing!" And by the way, he's laughing when he says that last word.)

Yes, I know that Microsoft/Danger should never have lost all that data to begin with (or should have kept a reliable backup), but as someone who's lost their fair share of info due to failed hard drives or flaky servers, I've learned the hard way that there's no substitute for keeping a local backup.

That's especially important when it comes to free, in-the-cloud e-mail account like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail—both have methods for quickly exporting all your contacts and events to a local file, and I also urge you to sync your e-mail to a local client like Outlook or another mail program—and then back that up, too. (I've got about six years of e-mail sitting on multiple backup drives and DVD-Rs at home.)

All that said ... to those of you Sidekick owners who are still missing data, I feel your pain—and I think you deserve a full explanation from T-Mobile and/or Microsoft of what, exactly, went wrong, and how they're going to keep it (or try and keep it, at least) from happening again.

So, who out there is still missing Sidekick data? Did anyone manage to get their contacts and other info back?

[Javora]

I never trusted cloud computing and can't believe that anyone would be dumb enough to do the same with important information.  Imagine telling the IRS that the cloud ate my tax records...   

[Nemesis]

A Microsoft Cloud solution loses customer data yet Google's cloud concept is probably deeply flawed?

I disagree with cloud storage of data as it leaves your data under another companies control rather than yours and likely in a data format you can't easily migrate.  That alone is enough for me to be anti cloud. 

[Just plain old Punisher]

Cloud computing is good for additional backup options. I use a off-site backup option for key personal data. Of course, I also have a burned cd and a flash drive in my fireproof safe too.

[Javora]

Cloud computing is good for additional backup options. I use a off-site backup option for key personal data. Of course, I also have a burned cd and a flash drive in my fireproof safe too.

At least you are smart enough to realize that the "cloud" isn't secure enough to the sole means of backup.  Some people found that out the hard way... 

[Corbomite]

Cloud computing is good for additional backup options. I use a off-site backup option for key personal data. Of course, I also have a burned cd and a flash drive in my fireproof safe too.

As a locksmith who sells (and breaks into) safes on a regular basis I can tell you there is no such thing as a "fireproof" safe. Your safe has a time rating that can be as little as 30 mins. Also the safe "protects" it's contents by releasing steam into the safe when it gets too hot so make sure everything is in plastic or some other waterproof material with a high melting point.

[Nemesis]

Cloud computing is good for additional backup options. I use a off-site backup option for key personal data. Of course, I also have a burned cd and a flash drive in my fireproof safe too.

That isn't using cloud computing but cloud backup.  A different fish entirely.

[toasty0]

Cloud computing is good for additional backup options. I use a off-site backup option for key personal data. Of course, I also have a burned cd and a flash drive in my fireproof safe too.

That isn't using cloud computing but cloud backup.  A different fish entirely.

Interchangable terms as it is currently practiced by the IT industry. Give me a good CoLo solution over Cloud anytime.

[Lloyd007]

External HD's are dirt cheap... DVD-R's while not very big in today's age are cheap and plentiful... as I recently found out when I lost a lot of data due to a fried power supply and hadn't backed everything up... very painful... $300 to fix the comp and $250 for 3tb worth of external HD goodness which is triplicated so the data I still have remains safe...