It sounds like maybe the usb drive is a bit crappy.
I’ve had trouble with cheap ones crapping out partway through being used, but be fine once you re-write the files to them. Twice now, yours worked, but then stopped working suddenly for seemingly no reason.
The drive might also be getting too hot. That happens with the Kingston DataTraveler drives I have. If I try to read or write continuously for too long, they shut down for thermal protection, and I have to let them sit for a bit before they work again.
Op didn’t install anything on their system yet.