Sounds alot like a dying drive. If you love your data, you better have a copy somewhere. Better already have but if it’s not too late, now is the time.

Along with the other advice, it’s worth noting that “USB” ports can have different specs; make sure you’re plugged into one that supports USB 3.1 or higher.

Also, USB is CPU-bound; if the CPU is busy doing other things, peripheral communication slows down.