Taking work now — the first look is freeWhole sets posted in from anywhere in the UK, or handed in at ten drop-off pointsQuicker still, give us a ring:0800 6890668
RARRAID Array Data Recovery 0800 6890668 Price my job
RAR / Controllers and hosts / HPE Smart Array

P410 · P420i · P440ar · P816i-a · E208i · MR416i · SSA · iLO · RIS · 1779 · a00053311

HPE Smart Array array recovery. Microchip underneath, HPE on top, and POST messages with numbers people remember.

HPE's Smart Array controllers are Microchip silicon with HPE firmware: the P410 and P410i of Gen6 and Gen7, the P420 and P421 of Gen8, the P440ar and P840 of Gen9, the E208i, P408i and P816i-a of Gen10, and from Gen10 Plus the MR216i and MR416i, which are Broadcom MegaRAID underneath and speak that family's dialect instead. A Smart Array keeps its configuration in a RAID Information Sector on every member and checks it at POST, where its messages carry numbers: 1779 Replacement drive(s) detected, with F1 and F2; 1785 Drive Array not Configured, when a newer firmware wrote the configuration; 1789 Disk Drive(s) Not Responding, after SAS cables were swapped; 1793 and 1831, when write-back cache was lost. In SSA and iLO it speaks in Predictive failure, Logical drive failed, Rebuild failed and Transformation. And it has its own dated advisories: a00053311 on 4GB cache modules permanently disabled after a firmware upgrade, fixed in 6.88 in August 2019. A Smart Array set of two to four members is £500 + VAT upwards after the free look, fixed in writing; MSA arrays and D-series shelves from £1,250 + VAT.

Free first lookOne fixed figure in writingNo data, no bill on most jobsReturn postage paid

Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668

Power down. Label every slot before a drive comes out. Do not rebuild, do not force a drive online, do not import or clear a foreign configuration, do not initialise, and do not run chkdsk, fsck, zpool import -F or mdadm --create on the members. A rebuild reads every sector of every survivor and writes to the replacement; each of the commands writes to the drives. On images, all of them are reversible. On the originals, none of them is.

Models and versions we see.

Which level is it →
Family Models or versions Metadata, defaults and notes
Gen6 and Gen7P410, P410i, P411, P812RIS · SAS 6Gb/s
Gen8P420, P420i, P421, P430, P431RIS · FBWC cache
Gen9P440, P440ar, P441, P840, P841RIS · a00053311 cache-module advisory · a00074690 1831
Gen10E208i, E208e, P408i, P408e, P816i-aRIS · SmartRAID
Gen10 Plus and Gen11MR216i, MR416iBroadcom MegaRAID; DDF; storcli states

What tends to go wrong on a Smart Array.

1779 and F2At POST, a drive the controller does not expect stops it with 1779 and two keys: F1 to continue with the logical drives disabled, F2 to accept data loss and to re-enable them. F1 is the default after about fourteen seconds and writes nothing. F2 assembles the logical drive on whatever the controller now sees, stale drive included.
1785 and firmwareA configuration written by a newer firmware than the controller runs produces 1785 Drive Array not Configured, and HPE's text says to reattach the drives to the original controller or upgrade the firmware to avoid data loss. Letting the controller configure the drives as new is the mistake.
Cache modulesAdvisory a00053311, first published 8 August 2018, described 4GB cache modules on P440, P441, P840 and P841 controllers becoming permanently disabled after a firmware upgrade from 4.52 or earlier to 4.60 or later, with 1793, 1797 or 1831 at POST and write-back data lost; the fix is firmware 6.88, and HPE's instruction for a system that had already shown the message was to upgrade and restore from backup.
Delayed parityRecovery tools list a delayed-parity layout for Smart Array, where parity rotates every few stripes rather than every stripe. The bench proves the layout by parity on the images rather than trusting the preset.

HPE Smart Array symptoms, and how long each gives you.

Not listed? Describe it on the form →
One drive amber; the set still upDegraded. Copy what matters, export the log, power down.Do not delay
Rebuild stalledA survivor's read errors. Power down; the first-dropped drive holds the stripes.Do not delay
Controller replaced; drives foreignThe description is on the drives. Do not clear.Do not delay
Several drives gone at onceBackplane, expander, cable or supply. The drives are usually fine.Everyday job
Cache lost or preservedWrites that never reached the drives. Do not discard yet.Do not delay
Packing it and posting it: power down, photograph the controller's screen or export its log, and write the slot number on each drive with a marker before it comes out of its carrier. Send every member of the set, including the one that failed first; it holds the stripes the rebuild never reached. Each drive travels in an anti-static bag inside its own padding, in a box with nothing able to move. Send the controller if it was replaced or holds an encryption key; otherwise it stays. Insure the parcel for what the data is worth, use a tracked service, and know that the posting address is not printed anywhere on this site; it arrives by email in reply to the form, with a booking sheet to print; the sheet inside the parcel is what matches it to your enquiry when it is opened. Or hand the sealed parcel in at the nearest of ten drop-off points, your name on the outside and the sheet inside; say where you are on the form and it comes by email. We pay the postage home either way. The whole of it is written up on the guide to packing and posting.

What the message means on a Smart Array.

Describe yours to us →
What you see The usual reason Where that leaves you
1779 at POSTA drive the controller does not expectLet it time out to F1; image before F2
1785 not ConfiguredNewer firmware wrote the RISMatch the firmware or read the RIS on the bench
1793 / 1831 cache lostCache module or batteryThe cached writes are gone; journal replay on images
Drive not authenticatedNo HPE firmware on the driveA warning; data unaffected
Virtual or logical disk degradedA member out; still readableImage the weak drives before rebuilding
Virtual or logical disk failed or offlineToo many members outEvery member imaged; set reassembled from images
Foreign configurationMetadata the controller does not claimDo not clear; import only with every member present
Predictive failure on a survivorThresholds crossedStop; image before any rebuild

From the parcel arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

A case number goes on the parcel and a number on every member the day it is opened, matched to the slot you wrote on it. Each member goes on the imager its interface needs, never on a controller, and its metadata is read before a sector is: the level, the order, the stripe size, the event counts that say which member is current and which dropped out first. An engineer settles what has happened to the set and how much of it can honestly be read back. Back to you come two things together: a straight note of what is liftable and what is not, plus one figure, fixed and written down. Accept it, or decline and owe us nothing.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNo rebuilds, no imports, no initialise
02

Every member imaged, including the one that failed first

Every drive in the set is imaged sector by sector, weak areas last, on hardware that controls every retry, with a map of what could not be read kept for each. Members with failed heads go to the clean bench first; that is the drive site's work and the same bench does it. The drive that dropped out first is imaged too, because it still holds every stripe written before it dropped, and a rebuild that stalled part-way never reached them.

Sector by sector, weak areas lastThe first-dropped member included
03

The geometry, from the metadata or from the parity

Where the controller's metadata survives on the members, the order, stripe size, parity rotation and data offset are read from it. Where it was cleared or overwritten, they are recovered from the data: parity across the members at the same offset should XOR to zero on a consistent stripe, which confirms the level and finds the stale member; where parity lands says the rotation; entropy at stripe edges and the file system's own anchors give the stripe size, the order and the start.

Metadata first, parity secondOrder, stripe, rotation, offset
04

Assembled in software, and repaired on the virtual volume

The set is put together from the images in software, with nothing written to any of them: the current members in, the stale member used only to fill holes a survivor could not give. The file system is checked and repaired on a copy of the virtual volume, VMFS and CSV volumes opened and the virtual machines' disks extracted, databases repaired where they need it. The originals are not touched again.

Nothing written to the imagesVirtual machines and databases opened
05

You see the file list before you pay

What was recovered is listed for you first, and only then does a bill exist. Approve the list and it is invoiced; turn it down and it is not — and where nothing has come back, most jobs carry no charge at all. Recovered data travels home on fresh media bought in for your job, with the postage at our end. Your case is not closed until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the job5–10 days at the bench

From the bench

  • Export an SSA diagnostic report or the iLO log before the server is touched; it records the controller's own view of every member and the firmware each is on.
  • Let 1779 time out. The default is F1, and F1 writes nothing.
  • Quote the advisory numbers when you ring HPE: c03925149, a00104843, a00074690, a00053311. The bench quotes them on the report.
  • Export the controller log first. It is the best record of what failed when, and the bench reads it.
  • The drives are the job; the controller is context. Send it if it was replaced or holds an encryption key.
  • Keep the first-dropped drive. It holds the stripes the rebuild could not compute.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · RAR-2026-0626JOB LOGGED ✓

A DL380 Gen9 with a P440ar and a 4GB cache module that went permanently disabled after a firmware update, 1793 at POST, a RAID 6 of eight that came up degraded, and a SQL database that would not start

The eight drives came in with the controller and its cache module. The RIS metadata gave the geometry; the set was assembled in software from the images and the NTFS volume examined on a copy, where the lost cache had taken the last seconds of writes. The journal was replayed on the virtual volume, the database recovered from its transaction log to its last consistent point, and the volume copied out with the advisory number on the report.

99.9% of the volume recovered8 days here, and back by post
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Export the log and photograph the screen
  • Power down and label every slot
  • Send every member
  • Tell us the controller, the level, the stripe size if known, and what was tried

What sets us back

  • Rebuilding with a second drive flagged
  • Clearing a foreign configuration
  • Forcing failed drives online
  • Deleting and recreating the virtual disk

Questions answered before you commit.

What does HP error 1779 mean?

That the Smart Array has found a drive it does not expect: one that failed and now answers, a replacement in a slot that belonged to a logical drive, or a set moved from elsewhere. Let it time out to F1; press F2 only after the members are imaged.

What does 1785 mean?

That the configuration on the drives was written by a controller with newer firmware than this one runs. The data is intact; the controller cannot read the description. Match the firmware or have the set read on the bench.

Is the data gone after the cache-module advisory?

The data that was in the cache is. The data on the drives is intact, and the file system's journal is replayed on images to account for the gap.

Is an MR416i a Smart Array?

It carries the name but is Broadcom MegaRAID underneath, with DDF metadata and storcli's states. The MegaRAID page applies to it.

What does it cost?

£500 + VAT upwards for a set of two to four members after the free look, fixed in writing; MSA arrays and shelves from £1,250 + VAT.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

HP 1779: replacement drive(s) detected →HP 1785, 1789, 1793 and 1831 →RAID 5 →Broadcom MegaRAID and ServeRAID →

Nothing gets worse while it is powered down.

Looking at it is free. Back comes a list of what opened and what did not, together with a single price to finish, set down in writing while you are still free to say no. On most jobs an invoice only follows the data. Until that list reaches you, leave the server off and the drives in their slots.

0800 6890668

Price my jobPacking and posting