I had a couple of lockups in beta because the USB stick I was running was a bit temperature sensitive. I had to up the fan to keep the MCU cooler, and didn't have a problem after that.
I've got a Samsung USB for it now.
I have a Samsung USB as well, one that was recommended.
Yea the proximity to the miner most likely effects the USB drive if you get one that’s more sensitive to heat and don’t have good airflow near the unit.
I was going to only recommend SSD and USB drives with cables but these flash drives were a good compromise of cost vs performance, and of course they look super clean plugged into the Apollo