I think the whole procedure can - for home users - generally be summed up as: make backups of your stuff.

The bit errors don't happen that often (and catastrophic bit errors even less frequently). If you have a catastrophic bit error issue you're going to have to restore from backup regardless, and the chances of both original and backup data being bugged (assuming they were initially OK) are so low it's not even funny.

Backups to something like a DVD (or, now, Blu-Ray disc) are obviously highly recommended as aside from disc-rot you shouldn't have issues with bits flipping or anything. With proper storage they'll last far longer than the useful life of your data.