Interesting SSD speed issue

[Cat-tirement]

the SSD drive has a cable that is USB-C (plugged into the drive) to USB 3.0 (plugged into the computer).
...
I thought USB-C was supposed to be really fast.

Any ideas?

If you have a USB-C to USB 3.0 (USB-A) cable, you can only get USB 3.0 speed (5 Gbps).

USB-C is just the physical connector. Even if you have USB-C on both ends of your cable, it, the drive, and the computer all must support USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) to get the higher speed.