MacBook Pro 21 randomly ejecting SSD. Major issue.

I am using a MacBook Pro 2021 M1 Max Chip on Ventura 13.1. The ssd is a SanDisk extreme 2TB formatted exFat.

The problem I am having is my ssd containing active projects ejects at random moments, resulting in photo editing software issues and data corruption. I had a weeks worth of work just go POOF because of this issue.

I have turned off the “put hard disks to sleep whenever possible” and even bought a new usb cord, thinking that may be the issue.

At this point, I don’t know if it’s a hardware issue, software issue, or OS issue. I am at wits end and have material on that drive I need to use.

Does anyone have any suggestions for trouble shooting? I am considering buying a new drive and downgrading OS to a previous version. Does the ssd need to be formatted differently?

Please help. Thank you.