Indeed. There are also SBCs in similar price- and spec range from other vendors but with SATA or even m2 PCIe interfaces, which is generally a lot more reliable

Indeed. There are also SBCs in similar price- and spec range from other vendors but with SATA or even m2 PCIe interfaces, which is generally a lot more reliable than gambling on dodgy USB3 adapters. Alternatively, CM4 (or equivalent) on an appropriate board. (I used one of those as a workstation for a month or so; worked fine enough, the only major friction was that I had to be mindful of closing browser tabs)