Xbox Series X SSD? Is there a go to brand?

Not really...

Xbox Series X games / upgrades / updates has to be installed onto the Series X internal or expansion card SSD,

You can have Xbox One games on your external hard drive that will get an Series X upgrade but the games will need to be transferred to the Series X and then the Series X upgrade will need to be downloaded onto the Series X SSD,

As an example...

I have Marvel Avengers on my external hard drive that will get the Series X upgrade and I will transfer the game over to the Series X SSD ready to download and update the game to the Series X version when available.

It sounds like you are experiencing issues with your Xbox Series X when installing or updating games to an external SSD expansion card. You mentioned that the console freezes or hard crashes when you try to install or update games, but only when using the SSD expansion card. When you remove the SSD card, the console works fine. However, when you try to install DLC on the internal hard drive, the console still freezes and shuts off after a few minutes.

This issue could be related to a compatibility problem between the Xbox Series X and the SSD expansion card. It is possible that the card is not fully compatible with the console or that there is an issue with the card itself. You may want to try using a different brand or model of SSD expansion card to see if the issue persists.

Another possibility is that the SSD expansion card may be defective or damaged. If this is the case, you may need to contact the manufacturer or retailer to arrange for a replacement or repair.

In any case, it may be helpful to check for any firmware updates or other software updates for the Xbox Series X or the SSD expansion card to ensure that you are using the most up-to-date and compatible versions. You may also want to try contacting Xbox support for further assistance in resolving the issue.

There is only one model and one manufacturer of the expansion card for the Series consoles. There is no other brand or model to try.

Damn,so the series x games are just built different. And it's not possible for xbox to come out with a update to where the series x games can use more of the 16gig ram and other resources? Or it's always going to just be for those proprietary ssds?

An Xbox One model had a hybrid hard drive/SSD. Now currently the Xbox Series X|S only has a SSD drive in it.

I'm not in the US either - Australia here. So I think this is a global issue based off of the Series X update in late August breaking the console's ability to read/write media to SSDs in general.

It seems like it doesn't matter about the user's brand of SSD. Whatever changed in the August update, using SSDs for installing games still works, using SSDs for recording game clips, storing media and viewing it on the console doesn't.