Lion, versions, restore and iDisk

Question

I've been working extensively in Lion for about a month, writing a novel.  Mostly I love the interface and workspace improvements.  However, recently I lost work in a scary way, at least twice, while moving from my laptop to my desktop and back.  This transition has worked seamlessly for several years for writing projects, with all of my work and source files stored on iDisk and synced to both Macs.  I always make sure to sync before switching computers. I think the problem must have something to do with the "version" and "restore" functions of Lion.  Let me explain the main apps I use, all of which are the latest version:
Preview.  I have a library of approx. 1000 e-book source materials, most of which I have converted to PDF so that I can view them all in Preview.  I have one workspace dedicated to having several sources open in Preview, and I annotate them with bookmarks and highlights.
Pages.  I maintain my workfiles in Pages.  I usually have several Pages windows open at a time, in a workspace they share with StoryMill.
StoryMill.  The actual pieces of the novel are stored and arranged in StoryMill, basically a specialized filesystem/database for writers.  This is a Mariner Software app, for which they have not released a Lion update.  However, it mostly works fine with their latest Snow Leopard version.  I wouldn't be complaining about problems with a non-Lionized app, if I weren't having exactly the same problems with the two native Apple apps above. 
Firefox.  Obviously, for any research I don't have in my own library.  I save tab groups and sync Firefox using its own native sync.
The main problem that I have is - when Lion restores my workspaces and windows, it seems to restore the last version I used on THAT MAC, rather than going to the actual document on the iDisk.  This is apparently true whether I'm on the laptop or the desktop, and the desktop is always online.  However, I did not realize that it was doing this, so a couple of times I began working after transitioning from one computer to the other, and did a significant amount of work in the Pages files before I went "woah, what happened to the stuff I did last night?"  By this time, Lion had already done whatever it does behind the scenes with versions, and I could not figure out any way to get the lost work from the previous file back without dumping the new work I'd done since.
This also happens with Preview, which like Pages is a native Mac app.  And of course, it is happening with the non-native apps StoryMill and Firefox as well.   Preview only reloads the bookmarks and highlights that were previously created on THAT MAC, even though both Macs are working from the same documents on the same iDisk.  And StoryMill, like Pages, restores whatever I did several days ago.  I realize that the iDisk may not be capable of finishing its sync quickly enough for the other Mac's version to be loaded during the restore process at startup.  However, if that's the case, the apps like Preview and Pages should be declining to re-open the document's window until they can actually access the document, rather than just defaulting to an old version without telling me.  The whole point of the iDisk, and especially the sync function, is to allow moving back and forth seamlessly between two computers.  I know iDisk has always had its flaws, but it only got THIS flaw after Lion.
In sum, giving me a version that Lion automatically saved a couple days ago, without checking against the actual file location and WITHOUT WARNING ME is a very bad idea.  I suspect lots of people are going to lose work in this way if they use iDisk with Lion.  Despite the fact that I love the workspace-restore function, due to my three-workspace-multiple-windows setup, I've had to stop using it because I don't know what it's restoring, or why, and it takes me longer to check each document window to make sure it's the latest version than it would to restore the workspaces manually. 
If there is a command line fix to force Lion to check source files on "restore," rather than just defaulting to a local autosaved version, I'd like to know about it.  And, like many people who know how to hit the save button, if there is a command line way to turn off versioning completely until Apple gets the bugs ironed out, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks and good luck with Lion.

Answer 1

Lion was not and is not available from the iTunes Website, perhaps you used the Mac App Store to purchase it?
To restore: reboot your Mac and hold down the command and R keys as soon as you hear the chime. When the recovery manager loads Instal OSX is one of the choices.