"We have restored the e-mails to those who were effected.If you are still missing your e-mails, please post your issue here (please note that you need to be logged in to the windowslivehelp.com site to be able to post) with as much detailed information as possible (How much wasn't restored, and any specifics that you may have) We sincerely apologize and thank you for your continued patience."
Users had bombarded Microsoft with complaints over how their inboxes had suddenly disappeared after the New Year's holiday, with some users even pleading with Microsoft to bring their messages back, some of which included pictures of their kids.
Hotmail/Live remains the most used e-mail service in the world, with 360 million users.
Microsoft would not elaborate on what happened but did say we "identified the source of the issue."