I have has installed Ubuntu/Debian too many times on it (five times), but for inexplicable reasons, it just stopped working and corrupt the files in it without intervention.
I don't know if it is an adapter issue, but I have realized at least two badblocks analysis and nothing wrong there.
The system stills working for at least four weeks.
The error can occur at runtime (disk just falls in a writing/reading mode), or at boot (just can't boot because the disk starts to fail sector-by-sector)
It's to note that I have been installed Debian 10 Stable, and I have no issues again (six months). It looks like a Ubuntu-only issue. Also, this week I had the opportunity to put my disk in a SATA, now I can see that the disk is moderately healthy, so probably was Ubuntu plus a micro/minimum that it can't treat that the major issue did occur.
It is possible to do a SMART report to an external USB HDD?