The problem was solved for me by just waiting (i think you already know). I forgot to post it here. Sorry.
I am not sure, but i think you would be able to copy the backup of your running e17 over to the laptop and point update-e17-script to it (check the help for restore from backup). As said: its just an idea and i am not sure. Might be nonsense.
FYI: The last time i tried i couldn't install e17 at all (neither from the script, nor from the enlightenment-repo, nor from the debian-sid repo). There was kind of a freeze in the debian-repos, so that might have been the problem.