Oh no, I hope you don’t end up going through what I just did! Being only marginally computer-literate by today’s standards, I once used FileVault (aka VileFault, now). Security = good, right? Then one day my admin account evaporated, never to return. Eventually had to completely format the hard drive, which wiped my music collection (negligible), all my bookmarks (bit of an ouchie there) and all my pictures (including the last ones of my mom… I may never get over that). Wasn’t until after all this that I found out VileFault is supposedly only for people with big security issues, aka sensitive information on their systems. (As well as laptop users in case the unit is stolen; I fall under that category.) It doesn’t play well with Time Machine. I still couldn’t give you details as to why, even after a month’s worth of adventures.
Once I got back online, I only then found out about this issue. Apparently among the Mac cognoscenti (which neither includes my mortal self nor any of the employees at the Apple Store in Roseville, CA), this has been an issue for a while. Sure would’ve been nice of someone to stick a little ReadMe in Mac machines saying “Um, if you want to actually back up your hard drive at some point, here are some possible problems with FileVault”. Guess you have to know that sort of thing by osmosis, yes?
Damn right I’m angry, bitter, etc. about it. Forget about everything else that was lost, the time it took to bring my system to something resembling normal, etc. What stings the most is irretrievably losing those pictures. A “hur, sorry ‘bout that”—blessings upon Apple for bestowing even that much—just doesn’t cut it.