Trying to get my switch right

[hasty furnace]

I'm switching from windows to mint soon using a usb, is there any way I can ensure my files are in mint and out of windows? I want to completely shred windows from my computer while preferably keeping my files in tact, if this is not possible that's ok too, I just want to make sure windows is off of my computer. (Windows 11)

[edgy sphinx]

ideally, back up your most important files to some external drive, secure cloud storage, burn a CD/DVD, etc.