I haven't experienced this issue in the past. We recently upgraded to 3.8 and experienced a situation where gradebook categories and weights (as well as aggregation type -- weighted mean of grades) does not carry over to newly restored course. I have not had an issue in the past (with v.3.7) with making course back-ups and then restoring the back-up and gradebook categories/weights carry over and "weighted mean of grades" aggregation carries over to new course. The aggregation in the newly restored course is switched to "simple weighted mean of grades"
After each restoration, I have had to go in and change aggregation to "weighted mean of grades" and then set-up categories and weights again.
When I do course back-up, I do not exclude anything from the back-up. Likewise, when I restore course, I restore everything except past users.
Any assistance or guidance would be greatly appreciated.