ifstream stream;
stream.exceptions(ifstream::failbit | ifstream::badbit);
stream.open(filename.c_str(), ios::binary);

char buffer[10];
stream.read(buffer, sizeof(buffer));

char buffer[10];
stream.read(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
if (stream.eof()) // or stream.gcount() != sizeof(buffer)
    // handle eof myself

char buffer[10];
stream.read(buffer, sizeof(buffer));

char buffer[10];
streamsize numRead = stream.readsome(buffer, sizeof(buffer));

137

ifstream input("myfile.txt");

int value;
input >> value;

char buffer[10];
streamsize num_read = stream.rdbuf()->sgetn(buffer, sizeof(buffer));

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;

streamsize readeof(ifstream &stream, char* buffer, streamsize count)
{
    // This consistently fails on gcc (linux) 4.8.1 with failbit set on read
    // failure. This apparently never fails on VS2010 and VS2013 (Windows 7)
    streamsize reads = stream.rdbuf()->sgetn(buffer, count);

    // This rarely sets failbit on VS2010 and VS2013 (Windows 7) on read
    // failure of the previous sgetn()
    stream.rdstate();

    // On gcc (linux) 4.8.1 and VS2010/VS2013 (Windows 7) this consistently
    // sets eofbit when stream is EOF for the conseguences  of sgetn(). It
    // should also throw if exceptions are set, or return on the contrary,
    // and previous rdstate() restored a failbit on Windows. On Windows most
    // of the times it sets eofbit even on real read failure
    stream.peek();

    return reads;
}

#define BIGGER_BUFFER_SIZE 200000000

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    ifstream stream;
    stream.exceptions(ifstream::badbit | ifstream::failbit);
    stream.open("<big file on usb stick>", ios::binary);

    char *buffer = new char[BIGGER_BUFFER_SIZE];

    streamsize reads = readeof(stream, buffer, BIGGER_BUFFER_SIZE);

    if (stream.eof())
        cout << "eof" << endl << flush;

    delete buffer;

    return 0;
}