- If you are looking for software to full read-write access to NTFS drives on MAC, Hasleo NTFS for Mac is your best choice. Tutorial to downoad free NTFS for Mac full version to full read-write access to NTFS drives in Mac. Download, install and run Hasleo NTFS for Mac.
- Free Third-Party Drivers: There’s a free and open-source NTFS driver you can install on a Mac to enable write support. Unfortunately, this take a bit of extra work to install, especially on Macs with the new System Integrity Protection feature, added in 10.11 El Capitan.
- Jun 09, 2021 Connect your NTFS drive to your Mac and you will find it in /Volumes ready to add data. That is how you use Apple's experimental NTFS write method to add data to a NTFS based drive. It is a NTFS for Mac free tool to use on your Mac. Extra Tip: How to Recover Lost Data from NTFS Drive.
We have rejected Mounty from Mac Appstore for that reason and decided to distribute it for free, without Sandbox capability. Mounty uses Apple's Notification Center to issue notification whenever a NTFS volume to re-mount is detected.
The NTFS format isn't one that's widely discussed, so you may be wondering: 'what is NTFS format, and why would I use it?'
In this article, we'll tell you what NTFS is, how you can use it on your Mac, whether there's an NTFS Mac alternative, and discuss the best ways to use the niche filetype on your Mac.
What is NTFS?
NTFS stands for NT File System, and was first developed for Windows NT version 3.1, where itw as the default file system for that operating system. Many external drives are formatted to NTFS by default, as Windows is more widely used than macOS.
Because it's a proprietary file system Apple hasn't licensed, your Mac can't write to NTFS natively. When working with NTFS files, you'll need a third party NTFS driver for Mac if you want to work with the files. You can read them on your Mac, but that's likely not going to suit your needs.
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NTFS for Mac: How to Work with Windows Drives in macOS
There are a few things you can do with NTFS files on your Mac beyond reading them. You can change the filetype to something else, but that can be tedious work! You can also tinker with Terminal and allow yourself writing privileges to NTFS, but that's not always advisable. Third party drivers and apps are your best bet, and come in several packages.
Some drivers are paid, and can be quite expensive. Others allow you to work with NTFS for Mac free, but free is not always the best option. Below are a few ways you can work with NTFS on your Mac, both native and third party.
Format to FAT32
Your Mac has an app named Disk Utility built into macOS that can help you reformat NTFS files to the FAT32 (file allocation table) format. Before you change the format of your NTFS files, consider what you have in them.
FAT32 isn’t nearly as efficient as NTFS, which can cause data loss for high-quality videos or documents. This happens because disks formatted as FAT are allocated in clusters depending on their size. The breaking up of files means FAT disks need to be updated often; not doing so is a common reason for file quality loss. Larger files are broken into smaller pieces, and FAT disks need to be told often how to discover those disks.
This is one reason backing your Mac up is critical, and why you should have Get Backup Pro. The app allows you to schedule backups as you see fit, and can backup your entire system, or limited to the data you want to ensure gets saved. If you were to reformat a disk to FAT32, the first step you should take is backing your disk up to ensure no data is lost or corrupted.
Another app you should have on hand is Disk Drill for Mac. If you were tinkering with reformatting and corrupted a file you didn’t back up, there's a chance your Mac has a copy of that file somewhere. Disk Drill helps you find it.
Use a third-party app
If you really want a safe way to work directly with NTFS files on your Mac, a third party app is the best bet. One of the best available third party apps for this is iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.
Work with NTFS on Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac provides full write/read support for NTFS drives. Mount and unmount, manage disks, and more.
Living in your Mac menu bar, NTFS for Mac lets you quickly and easily work with drives formatted to the NTFS format, even external drives. You can quickly mount and unmount from the menu bar app, and the app allows full access to NTFS files so you can read, write, copy, delete, and transfer them without worry.
Fallout 4 poop mod. NTFS for Mac is a great option for those who have to work with or on PCs often; you can edit NTFS files on your Mac without fear you will somehow damage them!
Enable NTFS write support in Terminal
Terminal is the direct way you can edit features and settings on your Mac, but it’s a one-way street. Reversing things you do via Terminal can be difficult, and sometimes impossible. But, if you want to take the risk, you can enable NTFS write support in Terminal – just know it’s a highly risky move that could corrupt your drive and files.
Here’s how to do it:
- Open Terminal on your Mac
- Connect the drive formatted as NTFS
- Enter this command: sudo nano /etc/fstab
- Scroll to the end of the list, and enter this command: LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw, auto, nobrowse
- Press Control+O on your Mac keyboard
- Press Control+X on your keyboard
- Open Finder on your Mac
- In Finder, select ‘Go’ in the menu bar
- From the Go menu, select ‘Go to Folder’
- Enter this in the “Go to the Folder” field: /Volumes/NAME
Select ‘Go’
Note: This opens a full list of NTFS files your Mac recognizes. In the following step, replace “NAME” with the name of the NTFS drive you’re trying to alter.
Note: Remember to substitute the NTFS volume name for ‘NAME’ in the step above
This should allow you full read and write access to your NTFS disk on the Mac.
Use BootCamp to access NTFS drive
Bootcamp is Apple’s method for allowing you to run Windows on your Mac natively, so using it to access and edit NTFS files is (currently) a safe bet. It downloads everything you need to run Windows on your Mac automatically, but there are a few catches.
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Bootcamp is also on its way out. Macs with Apple Silicon running the newest version of macOS, Big Sur, will not have access to Bootcamp. It’s unknown if Apple will simply disallow Bootcamp for all Macs, or just those running Apple Silicon chipsets.
But if you run Bootcamp and boot into Windows on your Mac, you will be able to manage NTFS files.
Move files to the Cloud
Cloud services may not grant you write access to NTFS files, but they do let you duplicate, share, and sync NTFS files. All cloud services can host and share NTFS files, so pick your favorite cloud storage option and give it a try.
Many will even sync to your Mac, allowing you to move files within Finder and have them synced to the cloud without you having to drag and drop anything. Just open the drive you have your NTFS files in, and move them to your cloud storage. Apple’s iCloud even syncs your desktop and Documents folders automatically, making it a far easier process to sync NTFS files to the cloud.
Conclusion
NTFS files are still a fairly niche filetype, but when you need to access them it can be maddening to not have full access. If you try to make changes and mistakenly ruin your Mac’s files, things can be even worse for you.
Happily, all the apps mentioned today – NTFS for Mac, Get Backup Pro, and Disk Drill – are available for free during a seven day trial of Setapp, the world’s leading suite of productivity apps for your Mac. Along with these four incredible apps, you’ll have unlimited access to the entire Setapp catalog of nearly 200 apps!
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By Nathan E. Malpass, Last updated: July 15, 2021
Mac operating systems can read NTFS drives formatted on Windows. However, they don’t have the ability to write to them directly. In this article, we’ll give you both free and paid methods of getting total read/write access to that of NTFS drives.
This guide can be helpful when you wish to write to a Boot Camp partition within your Mac as partitions for the Windows system must utilize NTFS. If you need something for external drives, it is recommended that you use exFAT instead of NFTS. macOS can directly read and write to drives using exFAT like Windows do.
Three Options to Consider When Writing to NTFS Drives on Your Mac
There are multiple options you should consider when writing to NTFS drives using your Mac device. We will dig into these options later on. Take note that with some options, we’ll give you more than one method of doing it.
Third-Party Drivers (Paid)
Third-party NTFS drivers can be used on your Mac device. Usually, you need to install these drivers and they work perfectly. These paid solutions can be installed easily. Plus, they have better performance relative to free options.
Third-Party NTFS Drivers (Free)
To allow Mac support for writing to NTFS drives, you can opt for free, open-source drivers. They can be difficult to install compared to the paid versions. This is because of Mac’s System Integrity Protection feature. Free drivers are slower compared to paid versions. Plus mounting NTFS partitions automatically in read-write mode can be a threat to your security.
Experimental Apple Support For NTFS-Write
The operating system of Mac offers you experimental support for writing to that of NTFS drives. By default, this support is deactivated. You have to dig into the Terminal to activate it.
Using this method is not guaranteed. Plus, you can even mess around with your NTFS file system and cause issues. Some people who’ve tried it resulted in corrupt data. Thus, it is not recommended to use this method. There’s a reason for it being deactivated by default.
It is recommended that you purchase a third-party driver to write to NTFS drives on Mac as other solutions might be very tedious or dangerous.
Best Paid Third-Party NTFS for Mac: FoneDog’s PowerMyMac
FoneDog’s PowerMyMac is a multifunction tool that allows you to perform a variety of activities on your Mac. Aside from being able to clean your Mac of junk, it can also help youwrite files to NTFS drivesusing your beloved Apple computer.
Below are the steps on how to use this tool to write to NTFS drives on Mac:
Step 01: Download, install and launch PowerMyMac on your computer and select Toolkit.
Step 02: Select NTFS.
Step 03: Press the Write button in order to copy, delete, edit, or perform other instructions on your files from Windows-formatted SDD, HDD, or flash drive.
Ntfs 3g
It is important to remember that when a pop-up window labeled “Fail” is displayed on your screen, it is because you still have to install Osxfuse and NTFS – 3g on your Mac device. This is a prerequisite to using the NTFS tool.
Step 04: Now, you will be able to see USB information located on the left side of the screen. The right column lists the USB’s files and folders. You have to drag the file(s) you wish from the USB to the blank location on the interface.
Step 05: Press the button labeled Write. Now, the files you have dragged into the blank space will be transferred to your USB. Once a message pops up saying the process is complete, then writing to NTFS drives is now done.
Step 06: Unmount the USB drive from your Mac computer.
Now, that’s an easy way of writing to NTFS drives using your Mac. PowerMyMac by FoneDog is our top option as it’s the easiest to use. Let’s get into another paid driver before delving into the free methods for writing to NTFS drives.
Runner-Up Paid Third-Party NTFS Driver: Paragon NTFS for Mac
This tool can be purchased for USD 19.95 and provides you with a free trial for 10 days. It will easily and cleanly install on most recent versions of the Mac OS. For instance, it can be installed on Mac OS X El Capitan version 10.11 and macOS Sierra version 10.12.
It really works and does its job. Thus, it’s our second choice if you’re willing to shell out a small amount of cash to get its feature. With Paragon, you don’t need to fuss about terminal commands just to mount partitions manually, automatically do an insecure mount partition, or handle possible corruption as you might experience with free drivers shown below.
If you really need to write to NTFS drives on a Mac, it is best to pay for the software we have mentioned in this article. We are stressing out that it will definitely be worth it.
Another option would be Tuxera NTFS for Mac. This tool costs USD 31.00. Plus, they can give you a free trial for 14 days. However, PowerMyMac and Paragon do the same things for more features or cheaper costs.
How to Write to NTFS Drives for Mac For Free: Using FUSE for macOS
This is a free method that requires a bit of effort. Plus, it is less secure. To make your Mac device mount NTFS partitions automatically within a read-write mode, you have to deactivate System Integrity Protection temporarily. Plus, you also need to replace an Apple tool built into the system with a binary. This binary is highly vulnerable to malicious attacks. Thus, doing this is a risk to your security.
But, you can also use FUSE in order to “manually” mount NTF partitions within a read-write mode. This is the case if you’re willing to use the Terminal. This is more secure compared to the one above. However, it requires more work.
The first thing to do is to go to FUSE for macOS website and download it. After then, install the tool on your Mac. During the installation process, select the default options. Then, you’ll also need the command line developer tools of Apple. You can install this by going to Finder and then visiting Applications. After which, select Utilities and launch the Terminal window. In the said window, type the following command:
After this, click Install to begin the installation process.
In addition to the first two installations, you’ll also need to download homebrew if it isn’t in your Mac yet. This is a package manager designed for Mac OS X. The 5 best free apps for mac. Use the Terminal window again to install this package manager. Just type in the following command and then press Enter to start installing it:
After this, press Enter. If it asks for authentication, then type in your password. The script will download and then install Homebrew automatically on your Mac device. Once Homebrew and developer tools are installed using the Terminal window and run the following again in order to install Ntfs-3g:
Now, you can mount NTFS partitions within reading or write mode manually. Run the command below using a Terminal window. In this way, you will create a mount point located at /Volumes/NTFS. This will be done once only.
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Once you connect your NTFS drive to the Mac computer, run the command below using Terminal in order to list the disk partitions:
Now, you will be able to determine the device name of your NTFS partition. You simply have to look for the said partition that has the Windows NTFS file system. It is probable that your Mac device has already mounted the NTFS partition automatically. Thus, you have to unmount it before doing anything else.
Run the command below. Replace the /dev/disk3s1 with the actual name of your NTFS partition device.
After unmounting it, you should mount the drive again. To do this, run the command below. Similar to the one above, you should replace /dev/disk3s1 with the NTFS partition device name.
By now, you’ll notice that the file system will be mounted at the location /Volumes/NTFS. It will also be displayed on your desktop as a regular mounted drive. If you wish to unplug the drive, you can eject it through the usual method of doing so.
If you think the above method works for you, then you don’t have to continue reading. However, if you want to use another free method, then read on.
If you want your Mac device to mount NTFS drives automatically within reading or write mode, you have to deactivate System Integrity Protection.
A Word Of Caution
You might not want to perform this method. The official instructions of the software state that this is a risk to your device’ security. When you do this, you will replace your Mac’s NTFS mount tools with that of the NTFS-3g tools. This will run like that of the root user. Because of the actual way Homebrew installs software on your device, the malware within your Mac can overwrite the said tools. It’s not worth it. However, we’ll still explain how to implement this method if you are willing to take risks.
First, you have to reboot your Mac device. Once you are doing so, press and hold the keys Command + R. It will display the recovery mode environment. Go to the utility menu within recovery mode and open the Terminal. Run the command below:
After this, reboot the Mac device again normally. From the desktop, launch Terminal again. Run the commands below in order for NTFS-3g to function:
Finally, reactivate System Integrity Protection. To do this, you simply reboot the Mac, press, and hold the keys Command + R. In this way, your recovery mode will be launched. Open the Terminal within recovery mode and run the command below:
Then, reboot your Mac computer once again. By now, the support for writing to your NTFS drive should be functioning.
In order to undo all changes you have made and also uninstall everything, you have to deactivate System Integrity Protection first. After doing this, run the commands below:
Then, you can simply uninstall FUSE by going to its panel within System Preferences. After this, you should reactivate System Integrity Protection. By now, you’ve realized why we recommend using PowerMyMac’s NTFS tool instead.
Experimental Support for NTFS-Writing by Apple(Free)
This method is the least tested. That’s why we seriously don’t recommend you to do it. We’ve warned you. So, do not put the blame on us or even on Apple especially if you run into issues in the future. This method is unstable and it might never be. The method is just included here for educational purposes.
First, you have to make sure that the drive has a label that uses a single word only. This is for convenience. If it has two words or more, then change it. This will ensure that the process becomes easier.
Visit Finder and then go to Applications. Then, go to Utilities and open Terminal. Type the command below using the Terminal. In this way, the /etc/fstab file will be opened. The said file will be used to edit within a nano text editor.
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The line below should be added to nano. Replace the word “DEVICENAME” with your NTFS drive’s label:
Once you’re finished, press the keys Control + O in order to save the said file. After this, press Control + X to exit nano. If you wish to write to more than one NTFS drive, simply add another line for each one.
Now, you should connect the NTFS drive to your computer. If it is already connected, just unplug it and plug it back again. You should be able to see it within the directory “/Volumes.” To do this, use a Finder window and press Go. After this, click Go To Folder. Type out “/Volume” within the box to gain access to it. Typically, it will not be automatically displayed within Desktop like that of normal drives.
Later, you can simply undo the change you’ve made. Simply repeat the process above to launch the /etc/fstab file within nano. The line, you’ve placed in the file? Just delete it and save the new changes.
In Conclusion
This guide is here to help you learn how to write to NTFS drives on Mac. Both free and paid methods were outlined here. It is recommended that you opt for the paid methods (e.g., PowerMyMac) in order to get this feature. In this way, you don’t have to risk the performance of your Mac and even potentially face file corruption.