Does rsync verify files copied between two local drives?

I want to make a fresh new copy of a large number of files from one local drive to another. I've read that rsync does a checksum comparison of files when sending them to a remote machine over a network. 1. Will rsync make the comparison when copying the files between two local drives? 2. If it does do a verification - is it a safe bet? Or is it better to do a byte by byte comparison?