lost all automation - how to prevent in future?

All my volume automation has been lost. I messed with the undo history and tried reverting to various backups...all automation erased in all versions. I also had the whole thing backed up on a different hard drive. All automation lost on that as well. Sure, I lost hours worth of work, but I am kind of at the start of a major project so I don't mind starting from scratch. What I AM concerned about is why this happened and how to prevent in the future? Thanks!

Logic Pro 10.4.1

Mac mini OS 10.12.6