Missing out files when reading from CD

For some strange reason my (November 2005) 1.67 GHz Powerbook G4 (MacOS
10.4.5) doesn't read all files from my burnt CDs. It skips quite a few
files actually when I compare with the original source.

Let me explain...
Using an external SCSI 4x CD-writer (Yamaha CRW-4416) connected to a
Quadra 840av running MacOS 8.1 I made a backup of some work of mine
done on that computer. I
used Toast 3.5.7 for burning to the CD-RW (a "low-speed" disc of
course, compatible with the low 4x speed) and made sure it was set to
verify the contents after finishing burning.
I chose "Mac files & folders" as the type of CD to make. In other
words, a standard Mac CD as far as I know.

Burning and verification showed no problems on the Quadra, so I put the
finished CD-RW in my Powerbook G4 and copied the entire contents to a
new folder on the Powerbook's harddrive. So far so good. Everything
*seems* OK, but from experience I know not to trust that, so here comes
the situation where in vain I try to get the Powerbook to tell me
exactly how many files/folders the CD contains, and the same
information for the copy of the CD now on the Powerbook harddrive (it's
amazing that Apple can manage to leave out such basic type of
information when even micro$oft can get that right!).
OK, frustrations out of the way I come across a shareware program
called "FileXaminer" which I can run in demo mode for 7 days, so I try
that out and find out that the CD-RW has 5314 files and 84
folders.

Then I check the copy on the Powerbook harddrive and get told that it
has 3012 files and 84 folders, which is way less than the original.

Could it be a random occurance? I drag the copied folder into the trash
and delete it. Then I copy the contents from the CD once again. This
time I also take great care not to do anything else on the computer,
just in case that messes up something. So I take a coffee break
instead, while the Powerbook is copying from the CD-RW to the
harddrive...

.... a few minutes later....
The copying is done and I do a "Get info" (with the aid of
"FileXaminer") of the copied folder on the harddrive. It shows 3012
files, 84 folders. The exact same number as last time!!!
I noticed that when I dragged the CD-RW folder over to the hard drive,
the copying didn't start right away, but told me that it was
*preparing* to copy. I paid close attention to the numbers changing
(e.g. "Preparing to copy xxxx items"). After seeing that I've been
unsuccessful at copying over *all* the files I expected it to stop at
3000-something, but it went on, and stopped at around 5300 or
thereabouts, which sounds about right when the CD has 5314 files and 84
folders. So MacOS *counts* all the files available, but doesn't manage
to *copy* them all for some reason.

Then, could the problem be with specific files or folders on the CD?
I examine and compare various folders on the CD with the copy, and find
a folder on the CD which has 48 files whereas the copy only has 21. I
copy just that folder again, and this time all 48 files are copied.

Further troubleshooting.....
Could it be the actual CD having problems? I highly doubt it (since it
verifies correctly when burning, and reads fine), but give that theory
a chance by ejecting it from the Powerbook, inserting it in the Quadra
840av and doing a "Get info" there (for some reason, MacOS 8.1 is a
little better than MacOS X at giving info, because at least it tells me
how many items the CD has -I would be hoping to know how many files and
folders it had, but this is surely better than no info at all, which
MacOS X gives me!).
The Quadra 840av/MacOS 8.1 tells me that the CD has 5398 items, which
sums it all up perfectly: 5314 files + 84 folders = 5398 items.

Still on the Quadra 840av I want to continue checking if the problem is
with the CD-RW, so I do the same thing as I did on the Powerbook: copy
the contents from the CD over to the harddrive.
It counts upwards the amount of items (being a much slower computer
than the Powerbook I can much easier follow the number which stops at
5399). That's 1 more than the 5398 items the CD actually contained, but
perhaps there's some invisible MacOS file or something that it creates.
At least it seems to count all of the items on the CD, which is a good
thing....

Sitting back and waiting for a while (a looooooong while actually
-around 45 minutes I believe), the copying is finally done, and I do a
"get info" of the copied folder. It shows 5398 items, which is correct!
So copying the CD to the Quadra 840av works like it should while on the
Powerbook it doesn't!!!!

Does anyone have an idea what is causing this? Is there a buffer
setting somewhere that I could increase, for the Superdrive?