diff --git a/library/protocol/block/block-protocol.zig b/library/protocol/block/block-protocol.zig
index b1fca3b..43e3e2c 100644
--- a/library/protocol/block/block-protocol.zig
+++ b/library/protocol/block/block-protocol.zig
@@ -57,9 +57,27 @@ pub const DefineRange = extern struct {
     block_count: u64,
 };
 
+/// The `medium_changed` event payload: whether a medium is now present, and a
+/// monotonic counter so a subscriber that missed an edge still sees that
+/// SOMETHING changed. Pushed by a driver whose transport can tell medium from
+/// device (a card reader, an ATAPI tray): the device stays, the medium comes and
+/// goes. The volume manager consumes it into the same unmount/remount path it
+/// runs on device death — one lifecycle, two triggers
+/// (docs/file-system-development/storage-architecture.md). Presence only, never
+/// content: the driver reports that the medium changed, not what is on it.
+pub const MediumChanged = extern struct {
+    present: u8, // 1 present, 0 absent
+    _padding: u8 = 0,
+    _padding2: u16 = 0,
+    change_count: u32,
+};
+
 pub const Protocol = envelope.Define(.{
     .name = "block",
     .version = 1,
+    .events = &.{
+        .{ .name = "medium_changed", .payload = MediumChanged },
+    },
     .operations = &.{
         .{ .name = "geometry", .reply = Geometry },
         .{ .name = "read", .request = Transfer, .reply = Transferred },
@@ -88,4 +106,5 @@ pub const Protocol = envelope.Define(.{
 });
 
 pub const Operation = Protocol.Operation;
+pub const Event = Protocol.Event;
 pub const message_maximum: usize = Protocol.message_maximum;
diff --git a/system/drivers/usb-storage/usb-storage.zig b/system/drivers/usb-storage/usb-storage.zig
index 4c3e53d..99c1b20 100644
--- a/system/drivers/usb-storage/usb-storage.zig
+++ b/system/drivers/usb-storage/usb-storage.zig
@@ -25,9 +25,11 @@ const bot = @import("bulk-only-transport.zig");
 const envelope = @import("envelope");
 const block_protocol = @import("block-protocol");
 
-/// The generated block dispatch. One device per process, so the handler context
-/// is empty and the geometry stays in this file's globals.
-const Serve = block_protocol.Protocol.Provider(void);
+/// The generated block dispatch plus the subscriber machinery the harness owns
+/// (subscribe/unsubscribe, the exit sweep, the fan-out) — usb-storage publishes
+/// `medium_changed`, so it is a Subscribers provider, not a bare Provider. One
+/// device per process, so the handler context is empty.
+const Serve = service.Subscribers(block_protocol.Protocol, void);
 
 const Invocation = envelope.Invocation;
 const Answer = envelope.Answer;
@@ -47,6 +49,21 @@ var next_tag: u32 = 1;
 var block_size: u32 = 512;
 var block_count: u64 = 0;
 
+// --- medium presence --------------------------------------------------------
+//
+// A slow TEST UNIT READY poll tracks whether the medium is present; on a
+// transition the driver publishes `medium_changed` to its subscribers (the
+// volume manager). This is the second removal trigger — the DEVICE stays while
+// the MEDIUM leaves (a card reader, an ATAPI tray) — which channel death cannot
+// see (docs/file-system-development/storage-architecture.md). Presence only,
+// never content. A device that is genuinely unplugged is reaped by the device
+// manager instead; a poll failure just before that death publishes absent
+// harmlessly.
+var service_endpoint: ipc.Handle = 0;
+var medium_present: bool = true; // a successful bring-up means the medium is here
+var medium_change_count: u32 = 0;
+const presence_poll_ms = 1000;
+
 /// One Bulk-Only-Transport command: send the CBW, run the data stage (to/from
 /// `data_physical`), read and validate the CSW. Returns true on a passed status.
 fn transact(cdb: []const u8, direction_in: bool, data_physical: u64, data_length: u32) bool {
@@ -82,6 +99,7 @@ fn transact(cdb: []const u8, direction_in: bool, data_physical: u64, data_length
 var bring_up_failed = false;
 
 fn initialise(endpoint: ipc.Handle) bool {
+    service_endpoint = endpoint;
     // One hello, both directions: the block-serving endpoint goes UP (the
     // manager routes fat's consumer hello here — this driver serves one
     // volume, one process per stick, so `block` is never a registry name),
@@ -154,6 +172,8 @@ fn initialise(endpoint: ipc.Handle) bool {
         const sector: [*]const u8 = @ptrFromInt(command_data.virtual);
         std.log.info("block 0 signature 0x{x:0>2}{x:0>2}", .{ sector[510], sector[511] });
     }
+    // Bring-up succeeded, so the medium is present; start the presence poll.
+    _ = time.timerOnce(endpoint, presence_poll_ms);
     return true;
 }
 
@@ -283,9 +303,34 @@ const handlers = Serve.Handlers{
 };
 
 fn onMessage(message: []const u8, reply: []u8, sender: u32, arrived: *ipc.Arrival) usize {
-    // Peeked, never taken: `attach` forwards the capability and the controller's
-    // binding takes its own reference, so this copy stays the turn's to close.
-    return Serve.dispatch({}, handlers, message, sender, arrived.peek(), reply);
+    // The harness peeks the arrival and takes it only if a handler (subscribe)
+    // claimed it; attach/detach forward the capability without claiming, so the
+    // turn still closes their copy after the controller took its own reference.
+    return Serve.dispatch({}, handlers, message, sender, arrived, reply);
+}
+
+/// A slow TEST UNIT READY poll: success means the medium is present, failure
+/// means it is not. On a transition, bump the counter and publish. (Sense-key
+/// inspection to tell "medium absent" from other transport errors is a
+/// refinement; a clean eject — what QEMU and a card reader produce — makes
+/// TEST UNIT READY report not-ready, which this reads correctly.)
+fn pollPresence() void {
+    const ready = scsi.testUnitReady();
+    const now = transact(&ready, false, 0, 0);
+    if (now == medium_present) return;
+    medium_present = now;
+    medium_change_count +%= 1;
+    std.log.info("medium {s}", .{if (now) "present" else "absent"});
+    Serve.publish(.medium_changed, 0, .{ .present = @intFromBool(now), .change_count = medium_change_count });
+}
+
+fn onNotification(badge: u64) void {
+    const got = ipc.Received{ .len = 0, .badge = badge, .cap = null };
+    if (got.isTimer()) {
+        pollPresence();
+        _ = time.timerOnce(service_endpoint, presence_poll_ms);
+    }
+    // Subscriber deaths are swept by the harness (Serve.hooks); nothing else here.
 }
 
 pub fn main(init: process.Init) void {
@@ -303,6 +348,8 @@ pub fn main(init: process.Init) void {
     service.run(block_protocol.message_maximum, .{
         .init = initialise,
         .on_message = onMessage,
+        .on_notification = onNotification,
+        .subscribers = Serve.hooks,
     });
     // A failure exit (nonzero -> .aborted) tells the device manager to restart
     // us with backoff; a clean return means there was nothing to serve.