Drop Down Product Option Box Issue

So I'm still pretty new to Magento, I'm slowly understanding the little pieces to get this monster running. I've come across an issue with the drop down options on the products page that it wouldn't show the options at all. The only option that even showed up was "Choose an Option". I have managed to fix it by uploading the backup files of when it was working correctly and now things are running. Which is fine and dandy however this is going to bug me for some time. Why would this issue occur? What steps, besides the step I took, would I need to do to ensure that if this were to happen again, I could just jump into that file and fix it in seconds?! I'd understand if there's more than just looking into one file but I'm looking some guidance from the experts!

An example so my post doesn't seem so vague:

I want to purchase a T-shirt. I would need a small and I like the color blue. When I click on the drop down menu, none of the attributes show up. I can not choose my size that I need or the color I desire. So I'm left at a product page without having the options to specify what I want or need.


I really appreciate any feedback and really looking forward to getting involved with this community/forum!

(also if I posted this in the wrong forum, please let me know, I'll get the hang of things and won't make the same mistake!)