public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { File blah = File.createTempFile("blah", null); blah.deleteOnExit(); ByteBuffer[] dstBuffers = new ByteBuffer[10]; for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { dstBuffers[i] = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(10); dstBuffers[i].position(10); } FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(blah); FileChannel fc = fis.getChannel(); // No space left in buffers, this should return 0 long bytesRead = fc.read(dstBuffers); if (bytesRead != 0) throw new RuntimeException("Nonzero return from read"); fc.close(); fis.close(); }