After announcing the likely loss of personal data that Sidekick users had stored on servers maintained by Microsoft's Danger over the weekend, T-Mobile and Microsoft now say that recovering some of the data may be possible.

In a joint statement issued at 5:15 PM PDT on Monday, T-Mobile and Microsoft said that they'd made significant process restoring service to customers and that some of the lost personal data -- contacts, calendar entries, photos, notes, and saved e-mails -- may be recoverable.

"Recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible," the two companies said. "We will continue to keep you updated on this front; we know how important this is to you."

The companies said that they're continuing to work around-the-clock to resolve the situation and that they're hopeful they can restore data for a majority of their customers.

For customers whose data cannot be recovered, T-Mobile and Microsoft have increased the compensation.

Previously, information posted on T-Mobile's online forum indicated that affected Sidekick customers would receive a one month credit for the data portion of their service plan.

On Monday evening, the companies said that customers whose data cannot be recovered will receive a $100 gift card in addition to the one month data service credit. The card can be used for T-Mobile products and services or to pay down a customer's bill.

The update offers no clarification about the reason for the data loss, which a widely cited claim has attributed to a botched Storage Area Network upgrade that had been outsourced to Hitachi. Microsoft declined to comment on that rumor.

Earlier on Monday, T-Mobile suspended the sale of its Sidekick mobile device while it investigated what happened.

As of Monday evening, the Sidekick was listed as "Temporarily Out of Stock" in T-Mobile's online store.

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