Host Specs (Notebook, connected to AC):

CPU: Intel 12th Generation Core i9-12900H 2.90GHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB GDDR6
RAM: 32GB (2x 16GB) DDR5-4800
Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4x4 SSD
Ports: 2x Type-C (USB3.2 Gen2 / DP), 1x Type-C (USB / DP /
Thunderbolt™ 4) with PD charging, 2x Type-A USB3.2 Gen2, 1x RJ45, 1x (8K @ 60Hz / 4K @ 120Hz) HDMI

External SSD:
Samsung T7 Shield, connected USB-C to USB-C

Guest is Server 2022 using a fixed pre-allocated (single file) virtual disk. NVME & 4GB of RAM. Its only purpose is to test clean install deployments and isn't being used for production of any sorts. Host OS isn't doing anything CPU or GPU intensive otherwise than the VM.

I bought the external SSD to improve performance, and it has, but it seems the guest operating is still struggling with performance/response (I know this sounds subjective to someone reading this but bear with me). The activity LED on the external SSD is constantly active whereas the external HDD didn't do this. I get paging memory even in a guest OS but not on this level with the Ex HDD, but I'm mostly concerned that the SSD is going to be /is being worn down unnecessarily.

I checked Task Manager and the guest OS is for a lack of a better word, idle.