Backup/archive without admin access?

[BirdOPrey5]

Try contacting the host and see if they will let you pay to keep the site going... Another issue will be is if domain is registered through the host or not.

[Mark.B]

No, no way to do this, and you'd potentially have copyright issues even if you did.

Your only chance is to make contact with the site owner. Sorry.

[Sepa]

Ok, so here is the situation.

There is a forum that some online friends and I have used for years, but the guy who set them up has disappeared. We're pretty sure it's only a matter of time before the hosting expires or some error kills the forum. Is there any way to create a backup of them without having admin access? I'd like to back them up, purchase a vBulletin license and restore the backup to a new site. Any help would be appreciated.