Are SanDisk Extreme portable SSDs reliable?

This is the most contested question in the category. Specialist subreddits like r/videography and r/editors host repeated reports of SanDisk Extreme and Extreme Pro drives losing their filesystem after sustained writes, and a firmware update was issued in response. At the same time, expert reviewers and many verified-purchase buyers report years of trouble-free use. The pattern that emerges is high performance paired with inconsistent reliability, so reviewers across the board stress keeping a separate backup regardless of brand.