diff --git a/system/configuration/protocol.csv b/system/configuration/protocol.csv
index 7d681ea..780eb26 100644
--- a/system/configuration/protocol.csv
+++ b/system/configuration/protocol.csv
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@
 # 'kernel' as the supervisor. Nothing else changes: the binary must still match.
 /system/services/input,                      kernel,                          bind,       input
 /system/services/device-manager,             kernel,                          bind,       device-manager
+/system/services/volume-manager,             kernel,                          bind,       volume-manager
 /system/services/fat,                        kernel,                          bind,       vfs
 /system/services/display,                    kernel,                          bind,       display
 /system/services/discovery,                  kernel,                          bind,       power
@@ -107,6 +108,9 @@
 # The volume manager reaches the device manager to be routed to each storage
 # provider's block channel, then confines a filesystem to each volume.
 /system/services/volume-manager,             /system/services/init,           open,       device-manager
+# ...and again under the kernel supervisor for the manual-tree drills (S5's
+# volume-driver-restart spawns the volume manager directly, not via init).
+/system/services/volume-manager,             kernel,                          open,       device-manager
 /system/services/display,                    /system/services/init,           open,       scanout
 /system/services/display,                    /system/services/init,           open,       display
 /system/services/display,                    /system/services/init,           open,       input
diff --git a/system/kernel/tests.zig b/system/kernel/tests.zig
index 2c27cd9..92faf1d 100644
--- a/system/kernel/tests.zig
+++ b/system/kernel/tests.zig
@@ -229,6 +229,8 @@ pub fn run(case: []const u8, boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
         fatMountTest(boot_information);
     } else if (eql(case, "exfat-volume")) {
         exfatVolumeTest(boot_information);
+    } else if (eql(case, "volume-driver-restart")) {
+        volumeDriverRestartTest(boot_information);
     } else if (eql(case, "device-list")) {
         deviceListTest(boot_information);
     } else if (eql(case, "pci-scan")) {
@@ -3685,6 +3687,44 @@ fn displayReattachTest(boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
     while (true) scheduler.yield();
 }
 
+/// Storage-driver-crash rebuild (S5): the device manager runs in
+/// "test-storage-restart" mode and kills the usb-storage driver once, a moment
+/// after its volume has mounted. The driver's device stays in the tree, so the
+/// volume manager's presence poll alone would miss the death and leave fat wedged
+/// on a dead channel; its channel-liveness probe must notice, reap the volume, and
+/// rebuild on the restarted driver's fresh channel — a SECOND mount of the same
+/// id-path is the proof. (A pre-S5 manager, checking only device presence, never
+/// reaps, so the second mount never appears.)
+fn volumeDriverRestartTest(boot_information: *const BootInformation) void {
+    log("DANOS-TEST-BEGIN: volume-driver-restart\n", .{});
+    if (boot_information.initial_ramdisk_len == 0) {
+        check("bootloader handed over an initial_ramdisk", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    }
+    const image = @as([*]const u8, @ptrFromInt(boot_handoff.physicalToVirtual(boot_information.initial_ramdisk_base)))[0..boot_information.initial_ramdisk_len];
+    const rd = initial_ramdisk.Reader.init(image) orelse {
+        check("initial_ramdisk image is valid", false);
+        result();
+        return;
+    };
+    process.setInitialRamdisk(image);
+    _ = spawnRegistry(rd);
+    var manager: u32 = 0;
+    var i: u32 = 0;
+    while (i < rd.count) : (i += 1) {
+        const item = rd.entry(i) orelse continue;
+        if (!eql(initial_ramdisk.basename(item.name), "device-manager")) continue;
+        manager = process.spawnProcessSupervised(item.blob, 4, &.{ item.name, "test-storage-restart" }, scheduler.currentId(), null) catch 0;
+        break;
+    }
+    check("device-manager spawned (test-storage-restart mode)", manager != 0);
+    check("volume-manager spawned", spawnNamed(rd, "volume-manager"));
+    check("fat-test client spawned", spawnNamed(rd, "fat-test"));
+    scheduler.setPriority(1); // below the tree, so it runs
+    while (true) scheduler.yield();
+}
+
 /// Process arguments, end to end: spawn args-echo bare (its argv[0] is the
 /// initial-ramdisk name). Instance 1 sees argc == 1 and respawns itself through
 /// `system_spawn` with the extra arguments "alpha beta-42" — the syscall argument
diff --git a/system/services/device-manager/device-manager.zig b/system/services/device-manager/device-manager.zig
index 94a6666..03cee2d 100644
--- a/system/services/device-manager/device-manager.zig
+++ b/system/services/device-manager/device-manager.zig
@@ -170,6 +170,8 @@ var test_usb_killed = false;
 var test_pci_restart_mode = false;
 var test_scanout_restart_mode = false;
 var test_scanout_killed = false;
+var test_storage_restart_mode = false;
+var test_storage_killed = false;
 var test_kill_pid: u32 = 0;
 var test_kill_due_ns: u64 = 0;
 
@@ -600,6 +602,16 @@ fn onHello(_: void, invocation: Invocation(device_manager_protocol.Hello), _: An
         test_kill_due_ns = time.clock() + 1_500_000_000;
         _ = time.timerOnce(manager_endpoint, 1600);
     }
+    // Storage-driver-crash drill (S5): once, a moment after usb-storage hellos —
+    // long enough that its volume has mounted — kill it. The manager re-delegates
+    // the still-present device to a restarted driver on a fresh channel; the volume
+    // manager's channel-liveness probe must notice the dead channel and rebuild.
+    if (test_storage_restart_mode and !test_storage_killed and std.mem.eql(u8, driver.name(), "/system/drivers/usb-storage")) {
+        test_storage_killed = true;
+        test_kill_pid = invocation.sender;
+        test_kill_due_ns = time.clock() + 2_000_000_000; // after the ~0.6s mount
+        _ = time.timerOnce(manager_endpoint, 2100);
+    }
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -763,6 +775,7 @@ pub fn main(init: process.Init) void {
         test_usb_restart_mode = std.mem.eql(u8, mode, "test-usb-restart");
         test_pci_restart_mode = std.mem.eql(u8, mode, "test-pci-restart");
         test_scanout_restart_mode = std.mem.eql(u8, mode, "test-scanout-restart");
+        test_storage_restart_mode = std.mem.eql(u8, mode, "test-storage-restart");
     }
     service.run(device_manager_protocol.message_maximum, .{
         .service = "device-manager",
diff --git a/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig b/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig
index 83dff1b..2235d40 100644
--- a/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig
+++ b/system/services/volume-manager/volume-manager.zig
@@ -405,13 +405,25 @@ fn removeDevice(dev: *StorageDevice) void {
     dropDevice(dev);
 }
 
+/// Whether a device's block channel still answers — a geometry() probe. A storage
+/// driver that DIED while its device stays in the tree (it crashed; the device
+/// manager will re-delegate the device to a restarted driver on a FRESH channel)
+/// leaves a dead channel here, even though isDevicePresent still reports the device
+/// present. geometry() on the dead endpoint fails fast, so this catches the crash
+/// that presence-polling alone cannot — the V4 review's open edge.
+fn channelAlive(dev: *StorageDevice) bool {
+    return dev.channel.geometry() != null;
+}
+
 /// One poll tick. Device removal is reconciled FIRST and supersedes a pending
-/// restart: a volume whose device left is retired before its restart could fire,
-/// so nothing respawns against a dead channel. Then due restarts fire for present
-/// volumes; then, if no device is adopted, a present device is brought up.
+/// restart: a volume whose device left (a pull) OR whose driver died on a channel
+/// that no longer answers is retired before its restart could fire, so nothing
+/// respawns against a dead channel. Dropping the device frees its slot, so the
+/// adopt loop below re-adopts the still-present device on the restarted driver's
+/// fresh channel — the rebuild. Then due restarts fire for present volumes.
 fn pollTick() void {
     for (&devices) |*dev| {
-        if (dev.used and !isDevicePresent(dev.device_id)) removeDevice(dev);
+        if (dev.used and (!isDevicePresent(dev.device_id) or !channelAlive(dev))) removeDevice(dev);
     }
     for (&volumes) |*v| {
         if (v.used and v.restart_pending and time.clock() >= v.restart_due_ns) {
diff --git a/test/qemu_test.py b/test/qemu_test.py
index e9c1ed3..c98f72a 100644
--- a/test/qemu_test.py
+++ b/test/qemu_test.py
@@ -815,6 +815,23 @@ CASES = [
                r"[\s\S]*volume-manager: medium left a storage device; unmounting"
                r"[\s\S]*volume-manager: storage for volume \d+ removed; unmounting",
      "fail":   r"DANOS-TEST-RESULT: FAIL"},
+    # S5 storage-driver-crash rebuild. The device manager (test-storage-restart
+    # mode) kills usb-storage once, ~2s in — after its volume mounted. The device
+    # stays in the tree, so device-presence polling alone would leave fat wedged on
+    # the dead channel; the volume manager's channel-liveness probe (a geometry()
+    # that fails on the dead endpoint) must notice, reap the volume, and rebuild on
+    # the restarted driver's fresh channel — a SECOND mount of the same id-path.
+    # Discrimination: a pre-S5 manager checks only isDevicePresent (still true), so
+    # it never reaps and the second mount never appears (it would restart fat on
+    # the stale channel and crash-loop).
+    {"name": "volume-driver-restart",
+     "build_case": "volume-driver-restart",
+     "smp":    4,
+     "timeout": 150,
+     "expect": r"(?s)fat: mounted /volumes/fat-12345678"
+               r"[\s\S]*volume-manager: storage for volume \d+ removed; unmounting"
+               r"[\s\S]*fat: mounted /volumes/fat-12345678",
+     "fail":   r"failing repeatedly; giving up|\[FAIL\]|DANOS-TEST-RESULT: FAIL"},
     # Volume-manager discovery + probe (V3a, docs/volume-manager-plan.md). Reuses
     # the fat-mount kernel build (the default boot now spawns the volume manager
     # from init.csv). It acquires the mass-storage block channel through the