The replacement HD finally arrived yesterday, already had Acronis loaded on the machines and I simply copied each hard drive into individual folders. Great - job done in no time! (You sure were right Bushfiva!)
I hear what you are saying, Mac the Knife and bnt, but I will not be doing daily backups and hopefully I will not pick up something that lies dormant too long before doing damage.
Right now I feel very grateful that I got away with not having proper back ups for so long.
Thanks again for all the help and suggestions guys.