Trying to burn Cd - repeated problem & variations.

specs:
Athelon800,win98, 32 kb primary mem, 256 kb secondary memory.

OPEN CRW1232 [CD-ROM drive]
IDE drives, over 900 megs left on drive C & all system worked fine untill mid december. Off & on for problems since then.Read the archives but no answers to my problem.
Software is: Adaptec easy cd creator v 4.02d s18

Current Error messages;

Error copying file:
Cannot copy file "file name*":
Cannot read from the source file or disk.

"file name*" means, herin, that the burning process stopped, at diferent disc burning attempts, on different files, not the same, possibly damaged,file..
I checked , the fies are not damaged.
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Error copying file:
cannot copy "file name*": access is denied
Make sure that disk is not full or write protected and file is not currently in use.
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Then, when i press on a folder on drive D:
I get " The folderD;\name does not exist. "

When i press eject, I get
" Drive is not under Direct CD file system't controll (0x0000003)"
DirectCD failed to finish all the file system operations.I did not close the disc.

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When i re-install the disk I can see and open the files already on the disk.

I tried downloading the latest driver update but problems persisted so I uninstalled all from the registry & re-installed the orig Adaptec. Problem comes & goes with variations.I read manual error codes but still lost.

Where should I start to sort this out?

Do I have a batch of variable quality cheap cd discs ?

Do I have a screwed up sector on my hard drive ?

Do I have a dying CD burner ?

Do I Have a screwed up windows 98 explorer, or some other problem?

Any leads appreciated. Thanks, in advance. W.