edit: for anyone curious, the problem was Xorg wasnt loading or something (stuck on systemd 'graphical interface target reached' with no graphical interface). because of a typo in a config file.
You need to rethink your reinstall process. My root is on a separate drive from my home directory. My home directory has a script that installs all of my basic software, along with any specific config files that don't reside in my home directory naturally. I can reinstall the system in about an hour.
Yeah, I use NixOS so my whole system is defined in a couple config files, so when reinstalling I can just point the installer at my config and get (pretty much) the exact same system. Same packages, git config, aliases, package versions, firewall rules, kernel version, etc, only thing missing is a couple dotfiles I haven't switched over yet but those are synced using Syncthing anyways.
This is basically what I used to do with Windows before I switched. All my document, picture, videos, music links pointed to my storage drive and I had a ninite installer with all my required programs ready to go. Plus my barebones microsoft account I used to save all my Windows settings so they just loaded right up when logging in after the new install.
Do you have/know of a guide to pull this kind of thing off on Mint?
Honestly, unfortunately no. I've been doing this since before Redhat split off Fedora. All my scripts are custom. I just rewrite them as new distros are released.
I used to use Ninite, but Chocolatey has so many more packages. These days I only have to export my package list to a file, reinstall windows, install chocolatey and install the packages by importing the file. That just leaves my favourite debloat script, some light setting changes and maybe the one or two programs that aren't on Chocolatey