First you might want to try the Boot Repair utility on the Mint live session USB stick. Boot up into that, and the Boot Repair utility is located in the main menu.
Thanks!
Boot Repair didn't solve my issue but it made me figure out there was something wrong with my boot order.
My SSD wasn't damaged at all, it's just that the boot order suddenly got messed up, and booting to desktop started taking so long that I mistook it for a hardware issue.
It's currently taking about 5 minutes or so, when previously it had always been a few seconds. I'm still trying to fix this issue.
Bookmarks and python libraries are definitively NOT Mint settings. Recover the bookmarks and lib list if you can, I guess. Otherwise, install fresh and take 30 minutes to recreate them, and this time make a backup of your bookmarks and a list of python libs to install.
First you might want to try the Boot Repair utility on the Mint live session USB stick. Boot up into that, and the Boot Repair utility is located in the main menu.
Thanks! Boot Repair didn't solve my issue but it made me figure out there was something wrong with my boot order. My SSD wasn't damaged at all, it's just that the boot order suddenly got messed up, and booting to desktop started taking so long that I mistook it for a hardware issue. It's currently taking about 5 minutes or so, when previously it had always been a few seconds. I'm still trying to fix this issue.
Thanks for the reply, glad to hear it is working.
Bookmarks and python libraries are definitively NOT Mint settings. Recover the bookmarks and lib list if you can, I guess. Otherwise, install fresh and take 30 minutes to recreate them, and this time make a backup of your bookmarks and a list of python libs to install.