Just to be clear, the update process doesn’t completely erase your current show. If it did that, people would immediately notice the change. The reality is actually worse however. That’s because an update will seemingly make “random changes” to the console’s current settings based on what is being updated/changed in that particular firmware version. I suspect the way the firmware update works is that if it makes any changes to the underlying code of a particular setting/feature, it resets it back to the “default” setting, but I honestly have never spent that much time looking into it to know for sure. Furthermore, not every small change/bug fix is going to be listed in the firmware update guide so there is no real way of knowing everything that might have been changed in the update.
This is why A&H specifically instructs users to make a copy of their show file prior to starting a firmware update and then reloading that show file after installing the update. It is the only way to ensure your console is in the exact same “state” after the update. These instructions are included as a warning on the screen when you start the update process, so there is little excuse not for following the directions.
If you don’t save your show file prior to updating and then reload it after updating it, some of your current settings will have definitely been changed by the update. Exactly what is different will depend on the firmware version being loaded because every firmware is making different changes to the system. How quickly you find these “changes” depends on how critical the change was. Odds are there will always be a gremlin or two that you never find in the settings if you don’t reload your show file after updating your firmware.
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