Volume Serial Number in Windows and MS-DOS

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I am familiar with how volume serial numbers are calculated (it involves the exact date and time the computer clock shows when they are formated on a DOS/Windows system.) However, I am a bit confused as to why anyone would want to use this data. I mean, I've used the number a few times to identify disks I did not put labels on, but a text volume label string is much more efficient for doing that. Thanks!

There's a lot of stuff in the Windows universe that smacks of the old song:

We're here because we're here, because we're here, because we're here,
because we're here... (repeat ad nauseam)

Actually, there's more than a little bit of that in the opensource universe too. But at least there we can say it's like that because we made it that way.

Haha, very true. Doesn't UNIX/Linux type operating system software have a very similar subroutine that ends up assigning a volume serial number as well?

I had finally found an article on it if anyone's interested on what I found. Again, I hope I am not being arrogant. Operating Systems that use volume serial numbers use them to check if a volume has been changed, i.e. if a disk has been removed or changed out of its drive. Apparently, they once used the volume label for this, but since you aren't required to give a disk a volume lable, this probably did not work very well at all.

"Back in the days" when we used (floppy) disks, i think one use for it was to use it as a copy protection mechanism. And like suggested, it can also be used to detect whenever a volume had its media changed to a new disk.

Ah, I can see how that would be useful copy protection, provided you never restored a program from a backup onto a different disk or onto that same disk but reformatted.