diff --git a/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig b/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig
index 2235d40..fea4913 100644
--- a/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig
+++ b/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig
@@ -555,8 +555,6 @@ fn onNotification(badge: u64) void {
     }
 }
 
-var last_medium_change: u32 = 0;
-
 fn anyVolumeOn(device_id: u64) bool {
     for (&volumes) |*v| if (v.used and v.device_id == device_id) return true;
     return false;
@@ -570,10 +568,18 @@ fn anyVolumeOn(device_id: u64) bool {
 /// no device, so `absent` retires every adopted device (its volumes unmount and
 /// the poll re-adopts the still-present device with its now-empty medium), and
 /// `present` frees any empty adopted device so the poll re-probes and remounts it.
+///
+/// We act on every edge and do NOT dedup on `change_count`. The driver publishes
+/// exactly once per transition, each with a unique monotonic count, so a count is
+/// never legitimately re-sent within one subscription — an equality dedup could
+/// only ever fire spuriously, and it did: `change_count` restarts at 0 in each
+/// driver instance (usb-storage.zig), so a global "last count" carried across a
+/// driver restart (S5's own crash-rebuild) mistook the fresh instance's first
+/// edge for a re-delivery and dropped a real eject, wedging a mount over absent
+/// media. Both branches are idempotent (a freed device stops matching `dev.used`)
+/// and the poll reconciles, so reacting to each genuine edge is safe.
 fn onMediumEvent(payload: []const u8) void {
     const event = block.decodeMediumChanged(payload) orelse return;
-    if (event.change_count == last_medium_change) return; // a coalesced or re-delivered edge
-    last_medium_change = event.change_count;
     if (event.present == 0) {
         std.log.info("medium left a storage device; unmounting its volume(s)", .{});
         for (&devices) |*dev| {