DMA programming techniques

Direct Memory Access (DMA) is a data transfer strategy that bypasses the CPU. Instead, a dedicated DMA controller transfers data between memory and a device.

Drivers can use the DMA controller to transfer data directly. To get started, see Introduction to Adapter Objects.

DMA programming techniques include:

• Scatter/Gather DMA
• Common-Buffer System DMA
• Bus-Master DMA

Version 3 of the DMA operations interface is available starting with Windows 8. For more information about this interface, see Version 3 of the DMA Operations Interface.