Instructs the system to open the file with no intermediate buffering or caching.
When combined with FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED, the flag gives maximum asynchronous performance,
because the I/O does not rely on the synchronous operations of the memory
manager. However, some I/O operations will take longer, because data is
not being held in the cache. An application must meet certain requirements
when working with files opened with FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING:
- File access must begin at byte offsets within the file that are integer multiples of the volume's sector size.
- File access must be for numbers of bytes that are integer multiples of the volume's sector size.
For example, if the sector size is 512 bytes, an application can request reads and writes of 512, 1024, or 2048 bytes, but not of 335, 981, or 7171 bytes.
- Buffer addresses for read and write operations must be aligned on addresses in memory that are integer multiples of the volume's sector size.
One way to align buffers on integer multiples of the volume sector size is to use VirtualAlloc to allocate the
buffers. It allocates memory that is aligned on addresses that are integer multiples of the operating system's memory page size. Because both memory page
and volume sector sizes are powers of 2, this memory is also aligned on addresses that are integer multiples of a volume's sector size. An application can
determine a volume's sector size by calling the GetDiskFreeSpace function.