I know I'm just 16 GB of RAM short from making this 2 days less 
Other than that, it's up to you to decide whether or not that wait is a pain. I'm not using Bitcoin Core for anything that couldn't wait for 3 days.
Other than that, it's up to you to decide whether or not that wait is a pain. I'm not using Bitcoin Core for anything that couldn't wait for 3 days.To be absolutely honest with you, I'm lucky enough not to have very urgent payments that I can't process otherwise, in a scenario where my Core nodes are totally destroyed, suddenly. I'm just lazy to wait for 3 days
If you'd be running a pruned node, I'd say a backup (~15 GB) is worth saving a ~700 GB download.
I am running a pruned node, just for hot wallet purposes with small amounts.
All this is coming from someone who had to restart a new IBD a few times over the years after I did something that fucked up my data directory.... I still don't have a backup 
Haha, yeah I feel you. That's what I'd like to avoid.