If you want to be more ideal, i have these suggestion.
1. Write down details of the backup, such as latest version of Bitcoin Core used to create/load the ~/.bitcoin/ directory.
2. Compute and store checksum for each files. It should be much faster than asking Bitcoin Core to perform reindex if you also worry about file corruption/integrity.
3. If you wish to reduce storage usage on your HDD, compress entire ~/.bitcoin/ directory. I remember old thread that discuss it could reduce the size by about 20%, although i can't find the thread.