Like I describe in https://pilabor.com/blog/2022/01/the-ultimate-boot-stick/ https://pilabor.com/blog/2022/01/the-ultimate-boot-stick/, I tend no longer buying

Like I describe in https://pilabor.com/blog/2022/01/the-ultimate-boot-stick/ https://pilabor.com/blog/2022/01/the-ultimate-boot-stick/, I tend no longer buying USB drives but mini USB single card readers for micro SD. Although not as fast and a bit more expensive, they are reliable, bootable and pretty cheap to "upgrade", as soon as micro SD cards (e.g. Samsung Evo Select - made for amazon and highest probability of "no fake" cards) have sale prices. I also use the software h2testw to check, if the drive / card is a fake or not as soon as I bought one.