[MiKTeX] How to update local package repository, not the installation

[Ulrich D. <ulr...@st...>]

Dear mailing-list readers,

Some time ago I loaded down MikTex 2.1 to a local-package-repository on my
harddrive (which I backed-up on CD). I did so because my PC often crashes
- therefore I wanted to have the possibility to reinstall MikTeX without the need
of having to re-download all the necessary packages from the WEB.

These days I intend to update to MikTeX 2.2. I tried with the MikTeX-Update-
Wizzard.

I have one problem: The Update-Wizzard updates the packages in the installed
ready-to-run MikTeX-system on my harddrive but not in the local-package-re-
pository from which the install-procedure originally was performed.
(Therefore it also updates only the packages which are actually installed but not
all of the packages in the local-package-repository.)

In order to make sure that everything in the local-package-repository is updated,
I could re-download the whole MikTeX-distribution from the WEB.
Using a 56k-modem, this could take some time.

My question: Is there another possibility for updating a local-package-repository,
e.g. a sort of  "local-package-repository"-Update-Wizzard ?
If not, I have another question: How does the Update-Wizzard extract informations
about package-versions/How are package-version-numbers stored in the CAB-files ?

Thanks in advance.

Yours sincerely

Ulrich Diez