Okay so I emailed the original IT guy, asking him to doublecheck if the disks were over there or not.

...It turns out he'd been using Arcserve the whole time and he has no idea how SQL 2005 got onto our server.

I have no clue how to use Arcserve and I'd really feel better using SQL. However, we're only running one instance of SQL, our data backups are relatively small, and I have no idea if we'd be willing to fork out the cash for a Enterprise edition of 2K12 or 2K8.

I know I can download the trial copy and use it, but the question is, should I? And essentially start from scratch?

I want to personally, as this will give me great hands on experience and I can begin anew.

What would you guys do in my position (beside crack open the vodka at 8 am and keep going until you can't stand up)?