4 backups later and a hell of a lot wiser I realize how fragile my wallet is and the need for good backups is apparent.
I am very computer literate but I have to admit the process to do backups and then learn to use trucrypt was quite the undertaking.
I think it should be emphasized even more that the bitcoin client needs to be shutdown completely before backing up. I can see someone not realizing it is still running in their task bar and having problems.
Perhaps in my earlier attempts not al of the blocks had downloaded and I would have received the balance regardless and this is actually not as big of an issue as I thought.
I think the next step is making a how to video on backups for the average joe. One for just securing from loss, and then a second for securing from theft.
Yeah, I might add auto backup + encryption to BitMiner later on down the track. Bitcoin should probably lock the file, so you can't even read it while the client is open.