- IBoysoft NTFS for Mac is the fastest NTFS driver I have ever used. It gives your Mac the ability to read and write to NTFS drives. With the software, you can delete, rename, add files and folders on NTFS formatted drives on macOS Catalina and earlier.
- NTFS drives are generally reformatted with exFAT, to access it on the macOS and Windows. Paragon NTFS driver supports Mac operating systems such as macOS Mojave, macOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, Mac OS X EI Captain, Mac OS X Yosemite.
- One of the best available third party apps for this is iBoysoft NTFS for Mac. 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.
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?
On Paragon Software Paragon NTFS for Mac 15 ($20) is a file system driver that allows Mac OS X Yosemite and later (incuding macOS Sierra) to read and write to hard drives, solid-state storage. A ntfs tool free for mac A free software that provides NTFS read and write support for Apple computers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Terminal is scary for many users – which is why you should give MacPilot a shot. It’s a fresh interface for your Mac Terminal that avoids having to know specific commands, and is a far safer alternative to Terminal as it limits you to doing what’s safe. There are roughly 1,2000 hidden Mac features MacPilot can help you quickly and easily discover and activate, all without having to enter a single Terminal command!
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.
It will delete all of your old Time Machine backups, if you’re using Time Machine. This is another great reason to use Get Backup Pro!
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, Disk Drill, and MacPilot – 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!
When your trial ends, Setapp is only $9.99 per month – an incredible deal, so why hesitate? Give Setapp a try today!
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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One of the most usual problems encountered in file transfer between Mac and PC using a disk has something to do with disk format. Windows natively support the FAT and NTFS files systems, while Mac uses Apple File System and macOS Extended as the default file system. It’s well-known that Apple macOS has limited support for hard drives formatted in NTFS. When you insert an NTFS external drive in your Mac, you can only read from but not to write to the drive. In other words, you can only open and view all the files on an NTFS disk, but you can’t change them in any way, nor can you copy new files to NTFS format disks.
Wondering how to write to NTFS drives? The following will show you three solutions in detail.
Solution 1: Use paid NTFS drivers
The easiest way to bridge the gap between formats is to use third-party software. There are various apps available online that have been developed for this incompatibility issue. Some are free, but they may be difficult to set up and less reliable. So we highly recommend paid ones as they are safer and require any computer skills.
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is the fastest NTFS driver I have ever used. It gives your Mac the ability to read and write to NTFS drives. With the software, you can delete, rename, add files and folders on NTFS formatted drives on macOS Catalina and earlier. It delivers blazing-fast read-write access to NTFS hard drives with a speed of up to six times more that of other competitors.
The program can also be used as a disk manager that enables you to unmount, erase, check and repair NTFS disks within one click. Besides handling NTFS drives, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac also impress you by formatting FA32/exFAT/HFS+/APFS drives to NTFS.
iboysoft-NTFS-for-mac-Catalina
Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your Mac computer.
Step 2: Plug the NTFS drives on your Mac. Once the drive is detected, a Finder window with its content will pop out. Then you can read and write to NTFS drives as you wish.
Solution 2: Use free NTFS drivers
FUSE for macOS is the most famous free NTFS driver that can let you extend the list of file systems handled by your computer. Once installed, it automatically mounts NTFS drives on Mac in read-write mode.
Note: this method will be very technical and tedious. During the process, you have to temporarily disable System Integrity Protection that is a risk for your operating system.
Step 1: Download FUSE for macOS from https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/releases
Step 2: Download and install Xcode command-line tools.
- Open a Terminal window from Finder > Applications > Utilities and run the following command:
Xcode-select –install
- Click “Install” when you’re prompted to install the tools. Follow the wizard to complete the installation process.
install-Xcode
Step 3: Download and install HomeBrew.
- Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
- Copy and paste the command line (Provide your password when prompt):
Step 4: Install NTFS-3G for Mac. Copy and paste the following command line, then hit Enter.
Step 5: Disable SIP (System Integrity Protection). If you want to automatically mount NTFS drives in read-write mode.
- Enter into Recovery Mode. Restart your Mac and press Command+R while it’s booting.
- Launch Terminal from the utility menu in Recovery Mode.
- Type in the command line and hit Enter.
csrutil disable
disable-sip
- After your Mac successfully disabled SIP, you need to restart the machine.
Step 6: Read and write to NTFS drives.
- Open Terminal again.
- Copy and paste the following command line and hit Enter:
Step 7: Re-enable SIP. To ensure the security of your Mac, you should enable SIP after the above operations. Hold Command+R while rebooting your computer. Then launch Terminal in Recovery Mode and run csrutil enable.
Solution 3: Enable NTFS drive write support natively
Actually, NTFS write access can be enabled natively by running some command line. But this solution is unsupported officially by Apple, which may work unstably and cause data corruption. Please back up your important data first. Within this in mind, let’s proceed.
Step 1: Connect an NTFS drive to your Apple computer.
Step 2: Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal and type in the following command: (Enter your password when prompt)
sudo nano /etc/fstab
apple-NTFS-write-support-step-2
Step 3: You will see the fstab file that is blank. Then enter the following command (Remember to replace “VOLUME_NAME” to the name of your NTFS volume):
Ntfs For Mac Uninstall
LABEL=VOLUME_NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse
apple-ntfs-write-support-step
Ntfs For Mac Free
Step5: Reconnect the NTFS drive to your Mac. You will notice the drive does not show in the Finder or desktop.
Step 6: Select “Go” and choose “Go to Folder” from the top left Finder menu.
Step 7: Type in /Volumes and hit Enter.
apple-ntfs-write-support-step
Read Also:
Ntfs For Mac Seagate
Conclusion
Ntfs For Mac
This article has introduced you three general options to write to NTFS drives – free NTFS drivers, paid NTFS for drivers, and Apple experimental NTFS-write support. Free and open-source NTFS drivers for Mac take a bit of work to install and they are slower than paid ones. It’s full of risk to Apple experimental NTFS-write support as this method is not stable. Therefore, using paid NTFS for Mac apps like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is the easiest way to read/write to NTFS drives on Mac. This software really surprises me for its fast speed in reading and writing to NTFS drives.