Which settings are backed up?

[GaryPen]

Does anybody know exactly which settings are saved, when doing a remote control backup?

IIRC, the last time I used the remote control backup/restore to save/transfer settings for swapping Hoppers, it didn't really preserve anything useful. Just the most basic stuff found that only takes a few minutes to recreate. No timers, no favorites, no channel locks, which are the most time-consuming things to re-create.

Is there a way to backup and restore timers, locks, and favorites, so as to avoid the tedious, time-consuming process of re-creating them when swapping Hoppers?

If not, I'd like to make an official feature request that those 3 items are backed up to the remote control, in addition to the couple of minor settings that are already on the backup list. If there is no room in the remote, then have it backup to a USB stick or drive. It would be a HUGE feature for people swapping out Hoppers, and DVR's in general.

 

[GaryPen]

Nobody knows exactly which settings are backed up? Maybe it's documented somewhere?

 

[Bobby]

I just took a picture of System Wizard, found in Settings, Diagnostics. It seems to answer your question.

 

[Dudleydog73]

So if it doesnt save timers, but rather recent settings for timers, what exactly is it saving? I agree with Gary that it should save all settings, including timers in case you have a catastrophic failure and need to replace the box.

 

[Bobby]

I read "the most recent settings for timers" as all settings that were set at the time of the most recent backup...

 

[GaryPen]

I read "the most recent settings for timers" as all settings that were set at the time of the most recent backup...

I have no idea what it means. It's incredibly ambiguous.

At least it saves channel locks and favorites. But, with out saving ALL timers, the backup functionality is really being wasted, as that is really the most time-consuming to recreate.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Just added a second hopper this morning and I used my extra remote control from the computer room to pair with the new receiver. I then set up restore from remote control on the new hopper. It accepted the restore and then rebooted. I then had all my timers and individual tastes setup on my new hopper. Even the locks preference was set up ,but I had to put a new password in the receiver, to lock the channels out that I wanted. The only thing it didn't do was set up my folders preference. I had to set up folders again and add the folder preference to each timer I had on the hopper. But it did cut down on the amount of stuff I had to do . Pretty cool. I also had icons from the start on the new hopper and 8 days of guide. It actually downloaded the guide as I watched tv and showed a green bar across to show the amount of guide downloaded. This hopper took less time than the first one to install. About 20 minutes from plug in to authorized. The cables and node install and rewiring and reburying the new line took a lot longer. But the actual hopper install procedure was easy and the software on this hopper is 221, unlike my other hopper stuck at 217.

 

[Dudleydog73]

Gary, are you on S221 yet? This seems inconsistent then if your timers were not restored but Mike's was. I honestly have not tried a restore yet but I know that it is backing up to my remote on a nightly basis it seems per the System Configuration screen.

 

[GaryPen]

I am on 217, currently. Bit, it was a much earlier version when I swapped Hoppers (207? 209?). I used the remote backup to transfer settings. But, the timers did not migrate.

The replacement Hopper was on an older SW version, as well, even after doing the SW download when installing a new Hopper. That could have been why. (I also ended up losing all or most of the recordings that I transferred over. A Dish engineer thought that might be due to transferring from a newer SW to an older one. If they would simply roll out each update to all receivers at the same time, that could have been easily avoided.)