I’m not familiar with using USB drives, but on any bare-metal system don’t use /dev/sdX
but instead use /dev/disk/by-id/<big long disk identifier>
in your fstab/cryptab etc. Even if you switch ports/bays, or your devices come up in a weird order after a reboot, config always points to the same physical disk. Way less stuff breaks.
Unfortunately the most concerned with this will be Americans, who by and large do not seek medical attention unless something is already seriously wrong.