My primary hub is a C-8 and I have a spare C-7. Could I use that as a backup in case my C-8 dies?
Do you have a Hub Protect subscription?
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As noted, you'd need a subscription to Hub Protect to use a C8 backup on a C7.
You can move from an older to newer hub using a free "Migration" cloud backup from the older hub. This provides a free path to upgrade/migrate from older to newer model hubs.
To use a cloud backup to move from a newer to an older hub you need to have a Hub Protect subscription on the C8. That Hub Protect subscription also gets you a free new C8 if your current one did die, so there would not be any need to move to an older hub. Pretty cool IMHO.
A lot of us keep our older hubs around and use them in different ways:
- In larger homes, use one hub at each end to provide better connectivity to devices that are far apart from each other. Same if you have an outbuilding (that has a network connection). Then use Hub Mesh to share devices between the hubs.
- To separate devices and automations on two different hubs
- You could also separate Z-Wave and Zigbee devices if you wanted to. I had some Zigbee devices that didn't play well in my house on the C8 w/its updated Zigbee 3.0 radio, so I moved them to my old C7 and shared back via Hub Mesh.
- To have a hub as a playground to try new/"dangerous" things (developers in particular
- Etc...
Yes - on the C8. Would I also need it on the C7?
You shouldn't need Hub Protect on the C-7; you can restore to any hub registered to the same account (and you can move subscriptions to a new hub at will, so you could move it to the C-7 if you want).
But note that you won't get Zigbee restore to the C-7. Z-Wave should work, though I'm guessing backwards migrations are not well tested. And everything else about any migration (e.g., cloud services tied to the hub UID) may also need adjustments from you after the fact.
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Really good point...C7 and C5 limitation due to Zigbee patent limitations on the Zigbee radio in the C7 and earlier hubs, IIRC. The likely lack of extensive testing on a downgrade also suggests caution. There be dragons... 
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No patents, just the older chip in these models doesn't support setting the 64-bit address for the radio to trick the network/devices into thinking nothing changed.
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Ah, thanks...
I thought that some comments here had indicated that some other platforms were restoring Zigbee radios on the older chip by "ignoring the rules," and HE couldn't do that and keep they're official Zigbee certification. Must have mis-read something...
Thanks - maybe time to get another C8. I will have a small collection of hubs at the end - two C5s, one C7, two C8!
Thanks - I have two C5s hanging around unused now! The C7 is my sandbox but since all my automations are in Node-RED, it is barely used.
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