This is no the case with filevault, when it is set up with a login account. I have lost encrypted disk images under OS X due to drive problems... but have had

This is no the case with filevault, when it is set up with a login account. I have lost encrypted disk images under OS X due to drive problems... but have had a filevault make it thru a failing disk without trouble. It helps that the Mac has HFS+ and Journaling.