diff --git a/ais/test/ec_test.go b/ais/test/ec_test.go
index 962b5578a8..bd3377be4c 100644
--- a/ais/test/ec_test.go
+++ b/ais/test/ec_test.go
@@ -2915,8 +2915,11 @@ func TestECBckEncodeRecover(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 				touched = damaged
 			}
-			xid, err := api.ECEncodeBucket(tools.BaseAPIParams(proxyURL), bck, test.data, test.parity, true)
+
+			bp := tools.BaseAPIParams(tools.RandomProxyURL())
+			xid, err := api.ECEncodeBucket(bp, bck, test.data, test.parity, true /*recover missing ...*/)
 			tassert.CheckFatal(t, err)
+
 			// First, wait for EC-encode xaction to complete
 			reqArgs := xact.ArgsMsg{ID: xid, Kind: apc.ActECEncode, Bck: bck}
 			api.WaitForXactionIdle(tools.BaseAPIParams(proxyURL), &reqArgs)
diff --git a/ais/tgtec.go b/ais/tgtec.go
index 20b884bc53..c4f69f1845 100644
--- a/ais/tgtec.go
+++ b/ais/tgtec.go
@@ -86,33 +86,30 @@ func (t *target) httpecpost(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	switch action {
 	case apc.ActEcRecover:
 		query := r.URL.Query()
-		if isRecover := cos.IsParseBool(query.Get(apc.QparamECRecover)); !isRecover {
-			nlog.Errorf("EC: invalid request to recover an object. '%s' is not set", apc.QparamECRecover)
+		objName := query.Get(apc.QparamECObject)
+		if objName == "" {
+			err := fmt.Errorf("%s: invalid request to recover an object: name's empty", t)
+			t.writeErr(w, r, err)
 			return
 		}
-		objPath := query.Get(apc.QparamECObject)
-		if objPath == "" {
-			nlog.Errorf("EC: invalid request to recover an object. Object name(%s) is undefined", apc.QparamECRecover)
-			return
-		}
-		objName := objPath
 		lom := core.AllocLOM(objName)
-		mbck, err := newBckFromQuname(r.URL.Query(), true)
+
+		mbck, err := newBckFromQuname(query, true)
 		if err != nil {
-			nlog.Errorln("Failed to recover object:", err)
 			core.FreeLOM(lom)
+			err = fmt.Errorf("%s: %v", t, err) // FATAL/unlikely
+			t.writeErr(w, r, err)
 			return
 		}
-		bck := mbck.Clone()
-		if err := lom.InitBck(&bck); err != nil {
-			nlog.Errorln("LOM init failed:", err)
+
+		bck := mbck.Bucket()
+		if err := lom.InitBck(bck); err != nil {
 			core.FreeLOM(lom)
+			err = fmt.Errorf("%s: %v", t, err)
+			t.writeErr(w, r, err)
 			return
 		}
-		if err := ec.ECM.TryRecoverObj(lom); err != nil {
-			nlog.Errorln("Failed to recover object:", err)
-			core.FreeLOM(lom)
-		}
+		ec.ECM.TryRecoverObj(lom) // free LOM inside
 		return
 	case apc.ActEcOpen:
 		hk.UnregIf(hkname, closeEc) // just in case, a no-op most of the time
diff --git a/ais/tgtimpl.go b/ais/tgtimpl.go
index 5cf256a37a..befaec8ff9 100644
--- a/ais/tgtimpl.go
+++ b/ais/tgtimpl.go
@@ -374,7 +374,6 @@ func (t *target) _promRemote(params *core.PromoteParams, lom *core.LOM, tsi *met
 func (t *target) ECRestoreReq(ct *core.CT, tsi *meta.Snode) error {
 	q := ct.Bck().NewQuery()
 	ct.Bck().AddUnameToQuery(q, apc.QparamBckTo)
-	q.Set(apc.QparamECRecover, "true")
 	q.Set(apc.QparamECObject, ct.ObjectName())
 	cargs := allocCargs()
 	{
diff --git a/ais/tgttxn.go b/ais/tgttxn.go
index bd795fa80b..1acbea7fcf 100644
--- a/ais/tgttxn.go
+++ b/ais/tgttxn.go
@@ -360,7 +360,9 @@ func (t *target) setBprops(c *txnSrv) (string, error) {
 		if _, reec := _reEC(bprops, nprops, c.bck, nil /*smap*/); reec {
 			flt := xreg.Flt{Kind: apc.ActECEncode, Bck: c.bck}
 			xreg.DoAbort(flt, errors.New("re-ec"))
-			rns := xreg.RenewECEncode(c.bck, c.uuid, apc.ActCommit, false)
+
+			// checkAndRecover always false (compare w/ ecEncode below)
+			rns := xreg.RenewECEncode(c.bck, c.uuid, apc.ActCommit, false /*check & recover missing/corrupted*/)
 			if rns.Err != nil {
 				return "", rns.Err
 			}
@@ -758,7 +760,8 @@ func (t *target) ecEncode(c *txnSrv) (string, error) {
 		if err = t.transactions.wait(txn, c.timeout.netw, c.timeout.host); err != nil {
 			return "", cmn.NewErrFailedTo(t, "commit", txn, err)
 		}
-		rns := xreg.RenewECEncode(c.bck, c.uuid, apc.ActCommit, c.msg.Name == apc.ActEcRecover)
+		checkAndRecover := c.msg.Name == apc.ActEcRecover
+		rns := xreg.RenewECEncode(c.bck, c.uuid, apc.ActCommit, checkAndRecover /*missing/corrupted slices, etc.*/)
 		if rns.Err != nil {
 			nlog.Errorf("%s: %s %v", t, txn, rns.Err)
 			return "", rns.Err
diff --git a/api/apc/actmsg.go b/api/apc/actmsg.go
index 2904a1328c..979b0d2e1e 100644
--- a/api/apc/actmsg.go
+++ b/api/apc/actmsg.go
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ const (
 const (
 	ActEcOpen    = "open-ec-streams"
 	ActEcClose   = "close-ec-streams"
-	ActEcRecover = "obj-recover"
+	ActEcRecover = "recover" // check and recover missing or corrupted EC metadata and/or slices, if any
 )
 
 // ActMsg is a JSON-formatted control structures used in a majority of API calls
diff --git a/api/apc/query.go b/api/apc/query.go
index 972c8dceec..92c80856d6 100644
--- a/api/apc/query.go
+++ b/api/apc/query.go
@@ -137,8 +137,7 @@ const (
 	QparamMpathLabel = "mountpath_label"
 
 	// Request to restore an object
-	QparamECRecover = "recover"
-	QparamECObject  = "object"
+	QparamECObject = "object"
 )
 
 // QparamFltPresence enum.
diff --git a/api/bucket.go b/api/bucket.go
index 2e9cca6405..3a02059358 100644
--- a/api/bucket.go
+++ b/api/bucket.go
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ func MakeNCopies(bp BaseParams, bck cmn.Bck, copies int) (xid string, err error)
 // Erasure-code entire `bck` bucket at a given `data`:`parity` redundancy.
 // The operation requires at least (`data + `parity` + 1) storage targets in the cluster.
 // Returns xaction ID if successful, an error otherwise.
-func ECEncodeBucket(bp BaseParams, bck cmn.Bck, data, parity int, doRecover ...bool) (xid string, err error) {
+func ECEncodeBucket(bp BaseParams, bck cmn.Bck, data, parity int, checkAndRecover bool) (xid string, err error) {
 	bp.Method = http.MethodPost
 	// Without `string` conversion it makes base64 from []byte in `Body`.
 	ecConf := string(cos.MustMarshal(&cmn.ECConfToSet{
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ func ECEncodeBucket(bp BaseParams, bck cmn.Bck, data, parity int, doRecover ...b
 		reqParams.BaseParams = bp
 		reqParams.Path = apc.URLPathBuckets.Join(bck.Name)
 		msg := apc.ActMsg{Action: apc.ActECEncode, Value: ecConf}
-		if len(doRecover) > 0 && doRecover[0] {
+		if checkAndRecover {
 			msg.Name = apc.ActEcRecover
 		}
 		reqParams.Body = cos.MustMarshal(msg)
diff --git a/cmd/cli/cli/bencodeway_hdlr.go b/cmd/cli/cli/bencodeway_hdlr.go
index ae1892cea9..eaefd61920 100644
--- a/cmd/cli/cli/bencodeway_hdlr.go
+++ b/cmd/cli/cli/bencodeway_hdlr.go
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ var (
 			dataSlicesFlag,
 			paritySlicesFlag,
 			nonverboseFlag,
+			checkAndRecoverFlag,
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -147,7 +148,7 @@ func ecEncodeHandler(c *cli.Context) error {
 }
 
 func ecEncode(c *cli.Context, bck cmn.Bck, bprops *cmn.Bprops, data, parity int, warned bool) error {
-	xid, err := api.ECEncodeBucket(apiBP, bck, data, parity)
+	xid, err := api.ECEncodeBucket(apiBP, bck, data, parity, flagIsSet(c, checkAndRecoverFlag))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/cli/cli/const.go b/cmd/cli/cli/const.go
index 32cac91d87..dc3dab2a15 100644
--- a/cmd/cli/cli/const.go
+++ b/cmd/cli/cli/const.go
@@ -595,6 +595,11 @@ var (
 	dataSlicesFlag   = cli.IntFlag{Name: "data-slices,data,d", Value: 2, Usage: "number of data slices", Required: true}
 	paritySlicesFlag = cli.IntFlag{Name: "parity-slices,parity,p", Value: 2, Usage: "number of parity slices", Required: true}
 
+	checkAndRecoverFlag = cli.BoolFlag{
+		Name:  "recover",
+		Usage: "check and recover missing or corrupted EC metadata and/or slices, if any",
+	}
+
 	compactPropFlag = cli.BoolFlag{Name: "compact,c", Usage: "display properties grouped in human-readable mode"}
 
 	nameOnlyFlag = cli.BoolFlag{
diff --git a/cmd/cli/go.mod b/cmd/cli/go.mod
index 048af24eb1..705965c735 100644
--- a/cmd/cli/go.mod
+++ b/cmd/cli/go.mod
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ module github.com/NVIDIA/aistore/cmd/cli
 go 1.23.2
 
 require (
-	github.com/NVIDIA/aistore v1.3.26-0.20241018191536-5a7b43c14253
+	github.com/NVIDIA/aistore v1.3.26-0.20241021212206-e65b4c2efcf3
 	github.com/fatih/color v1.17.0
 	github.com/json-iterator/go v1.1.12
 	github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 v2.20.2
diff --git a/cmd/cli/go.sum b/cmd/cli/go.sum
index 8124478c52..9cc2df043d 100644
--- a/cmd/cli/go.sum
+++ b/cmd/cli/go.sum
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 code.cloudfoundry.org/bytefmt v0.0.0-20190710193110-1eb035ffe2b6/go.mod h1:wN/zk7mhREp/oviagqUXY3EwuHhWyOvAdsn5Y4CzOrc=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v1.4.0/go.mod h1:ukJfTF/6rtPPRCnwkur4qwRxa8vTRFBF0uk2lLoLwho=
-github.com/NVIDIA/aistore v1.3.26-0.20241018191536-5a7b43c14253 h1:4tyDXe2OssOS6Gi9dM6dX3n7Y6jHU2YQ+bguw/C05xM=
-github.com/NVIDIA/aistore v1.3.26-0.20241018191536-5a7b43c14253/go.mod h1:Q6J3YIeiL4A6oWga3qCJ8+XI1CUvdde7Gua/HfueGlQ=
+github.com/NVIDIA/aistore v1.3.26-0.20241021212206-e65b4c2efcf3 h1:apzFZIz80x8HYgFG1PFnNZ1JUVAfiaHhnyhSJjiqriw=
+github.com/NVIDIA/aistore v1.3.26-0.20241021212206-e65b4c2efcf3/go.mod h1:Q6J3YIeiL4A6oWga3qCJ8+XI1CUvdde7Gua/HfueGlQ=
 github.com/OneOfOne/xxhash v1.2.8 h1:31czK/TI9sNkxIKfaUfGlU47BAxQ0ztGgd9vPyqimf8=
 github.com/OneOfOne/xxhash v1.2.8/go.mod h1:eZbhyaAYD41SGSSsnmcpxVoRiQ/MPUTjUdIIOT9Um7Q=
 github.com/VividCortex/ewma v1.1.1/go.mod h1:2Tkkvm3sRDVXaiyucHiACn4cqf7DpdyLvmxzcbUokwA=
diff --git a/ec/bencodex.go b/ec/bencodex.go
index 1779446eff..e597de8590 100644
--- a/ec/bencodex.go
+++ b/ec/bencodex.go
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ type (
 	}
 	XactBckEncode struct {
 		xact.Base
-		bck       *meta.Bck
-		wg        *sync.WaitGroup // to wait for EC finishes all objects
-		smap      *meta.Smap
-		doRecover bool
+		bck             *meta.Bck
+		wg              *sync.WaitGroup // to wait for EC finishes all objects
+		smap            *meta.Smap
+		checkAndRecover bool
 	}
 )
 
@@ -75,8 +75,12 @@ func (p *encFactory) WhenPrevIsRunning(prevEntry xreg.Renewable) (wpr xreg.WPR,
 // XactBckEncode //
 ///////////////////
 
-func newXactBckEncode(bck *meta.Bck, uuid string, doRecover bool) (r *XactBckEncode) {
-	r = &XactBckEncode{bck: bck, wg: &sync.WaitGroup{}, smap: core.T.Sowner().Get(), doRecover: doRecover}
+func newXactBckEncode(bck *meta.Bck, uuid string, checkAndRecover bool) (r *XactBckEncode) {
+	r = &XactBckEncode{
+		bck:             bck,
+		wg:              &sync.WaitGroup{},
+		smap:            core.T.Sowner().Get(),
+		checkAndRecover: checkAndRecover}
 	r.InitBase(uuid, apc.ActECEncode, bck)
 	return
 }
@@ -98,15 +102,16 @@ func (r *XactBckEncode) Run(wg *sync.WaitGroup) {
 	ECM.incActive(r)
 
 	ctList := []string{fs.ObjectType}
-	if r.doRecover {
-		ctList = []string{fs.ObjectType, fs.ECMetaType, fs.ECSliceType}
-	}
 	opts := &mpather.JgroupOpts{
 		CTs:      ctList,
 		VisitObj: r.bckEncode,
-		VisitCT:  r.bckEncodeMD,
 		DoLoad:   mpather.LoadUnsafe,
 	}
+	if r.checkAndRecover {
+		opts.CTs = []string{fs.ObjectType, fs.ECMetaType, fs.ECSliceType}
+		opts.VisitCT = r.bckEncodeMD
+	}
+
 	opts.Bck.Copy(r.bck.Bucket())
 	jg := mpather.NewJoggerGroup(opts, cmn.GCO.Get(), nil)
 	jg.Run()
diff --git a/ec/manager.go b/ec/manager.go
index 02694dc369..6134096b5f 100644
--- a/ec/manager.go
+++ b/ec/manager.go
@@ -349,14 +349,12 @@ func (mgr *Manager) BMDChanged() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (mgr *Manager) TryRecoverObj(lom *core.LOM) error {
-	// RestoreObject is blocking: it waits for the object is recovered
+// TODO -- FIXME: joggers, etc.
+func (mgr *Manager) TryRecoverObj(lom *core.LOM) {
 	go func() {
 		if err := mgr.RestoreObject(lom); err != nil {
-			nlog.Errorf("Failed to recover an object '%s': %v", lom, err)
+			nlog.Errorln(core.T.String(), "failed to recover", lom.Cname(), "err:", err)
 		}
 		core.FreeLOM(lom)
 	}()
-
-	return nil
 }
diff --git a/xact/xreg/bucket.go b/xact/xreg/bucket.go
index a9e4580ad5..5f7476ecdb 100644
--- a/xact/xreg/bucket.go
+++ b/xact/xreg/bucket.go
@@ -70,8 +70,9 @@ func RenewBucketXact(kind string, bck *meta.Bck, args Args, buckets ...*meta.Bck
 	return dreg.renew(e, bck, buckets...)
 }
 
-func RenewECEncode(bck *meta.Bck, uuid, phase string, doRecover bool) RenewRes {
-	return RenewBucketXact(apc.ActECEncode, bck, Args{Custom: &ECEncodeArgs{Phase: phase, Recover: doRecover}, UUID: uuid})
+func RenewECEncode(bck *meta.Bck, uuid, phase string, checkAndRecover bool) RenewRes {
+	args := Args{Custom: &ECEncodeArgs{Phase: phase, Recover: checkAndRecover}, UUID: uuid}
+	return RenewBucketXact(apc.ActECEncode, bck, args)
 }
 
 func RenewMakeNCopies(uuid, tag string) {