NTFS (short of new technology file system) is a default file system for Windows. It was first introduced in Windows NT and over the years it has only got better. It supports all the modern features like encryption, journaling (reduce data loss), file permission, compression etc etc.
Since Windows is still the most popular desktop OS, most external HDD comes preformatted with NTFS. This means you can use them on Windows with no problem.
But on MAC, NTFS volume becomes read only i.e. you can only copy data from external HDD to your MAC but not the other way around.
We know that the NTFS file system built into Mac cannot write NTFS drives by default, it can only read NTFS drives. Hasleo NTFS for Mac is a free software primarily designed to help users full access to NTFS drives in Mac, with it you can mount, unmount, read and write NTFS drives easily, safely and seamlessly in macOS & OS X. To full access (mount, read and write) the BitLocker-encrypted. 2 days ago Boysoft NTFS for Mac is a light-weight app that grants users full read-write access to Windows NTFS-formatted volumes on Mac computer. The app is fully compatible with a large range of Mac OS, especially in macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS 10.15 Catalina. Easy installation. A.dmg file will be downloaded in the download list of a browser.
Now you can always format your hard drive to FAT32/exFAT and make it compatible on both platforms or even use samba server to share file between MAC and Windows.
But, if you are going to use your external drive mostly on Windows, then it does make sense to keep NTFS and sometimes when you want to use it on MAC, use a software.
So here are three workarounds, on how to use an NTFS volume with MAC
Use NTFS Drive on MAC
#1 Terminal
Now you may not know, but modern MAC OS support NTFS volume (both read and write) However, this feature is disabled by default. Why? We will come to that later,
If you want to enable the support for NTFS, you can easily do it by editing a small file.
1. Simply insert your hard drive, in your MAC note down its drive name.
![Ntfs for mac seagate Ntfs for mac seagate](/uploads/1/0/5/7/105732157/897606313.jpg)
2. Now press cmd + space to launch spotlights then type in terminal and hit enter.
Ntfs For Mac Free
3. In terminal copy paste the following command.
sudo nano /etc/fstab
With this command, you are telling the super user to open the fstab file using the nano text editor. You will have to enter the login password.
4. Next, a new window will open, though you won’t see anything on it. Simply paste the following command.
LABEL=DRIVE_NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse
Replace the drive name with the hard drive name. And save changes. To do that, first type CTRL + o (o for orange) to write data and CTRL + x to exit. And that’s it.
5. Restart your MAC and under finder, go to the “Go -> Go to Folder” and type in /Volumes. You will your NTFS drive.
Verdict: This is the most simple method. However, I don’t prefer it, neither it’s recommended by apple (and that’s why it’s hidden) because it’s experimental and people who have tried this, reported an error. Also, since there are other solutions, why to take the risk.
#2 NTFS -3g (recommended)
This is the most popular method, and also the one I am using right now. Instead of tinkering the core system settings via terminal, you can install a free software like NTFs-3g.
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The development of NTFS 3g has been stopped from a long time. But, you can still get it work by installing few extra packages.
Well precisely, you have to install 3 program one by one. I have this guide on MACbreaker, and here is the summary of the process, for details check out the original article.
First, start with fuse for OS X — this provides a framework for NTFS support.
Download it from here and install it like you normally do. Under the installation type make sure to check the “MacFUSE Compatibility Layer”. Once done restart the system.
Second install the NTFS 3g. This is the actual software that will be responsible for providing write support to your file.
Finally, install fuse Wait. Since NTFS-3g has not been updated from 2010, you will see an error like this, when the system boots up. So it will remove that.
So basically you download all this 3 software and install them one by one in the same order. It’s recommended you restart your system after every install. And once you’re done, plug in your hard drive and now you can use it both read and write access.
Verdict: The good part is it’s free, safe and stable. Using it for a while, never had any problem. And the bad part is, you have to install three different packages thus making it impractical if you want to try it on your friends computer.
#3 Paragon or Textra (Paid)
It’s similar to NTFS-3g, but you only have to install one software. Also, since this is paid version, bugs are fixed regularly and software is more stable than NTFS-3g.
But this stability do come with a price. Paragon ($19) and Textra ($24) are expensive and comes with a license for a single computer. Though there is a trial version which you can try for free.
Verdict: Me personally, I didn’t try their service as I had no problem with NTFS-3g. However judging from the reviews online, for professional use these are better.
Conclusion
For general use, NTFS-3g is a good solution. NTFS is the most stable file system for windows and with drivers like NTFS-3g you can get it work easily on MAC.
Free Ntfs For Mac Seagate
However, if you work with multiple MAC computers then it’s not a good idea to install NTFS-3g on your friends computer. Neither is paying each time or using a terminal. So in such cases, you may want to look towards another file system like exFAT — which is like NTFS but work with both MAC and Windows.
So far it is considered that mounting NTFS means opening an NTFS formatted drive in Mac operating system. But it is not true. Have you ever thought that opening a drive in Windows is not called “Mounting a drive”? To explain it technically, the mounting process is not done by the hardware process of the PC. In Mac based operating systems before the boot of any storage devices by the PC the user or the operating system has to mount the storage drives using mount point and file systems. Moreover the operating system cannot be forced to open an uncategorized or unsupported format. So the mounting process will ensure that the requested drive is supported by the PC and the operating system.
In the case of mounting NTFS in Mac, the Mac operating systems do not give read / write permissions to the users because of legal issues or sometimes the read process alone will be permitted. But this New Technology File System will store additional information like files accessing time and date along with that data. So in NTFS even the read process will be considered as write process only.
Ultimately Mac is one of the leading big bosses in the operating system industry. But roughly around 70% of the people all over the world make use of Windows OS. Since no other file system is well suited for drive storages of larger size. It is the most used files system for many external drives as it also supports journaling files and that will be useful at the time of recovery of crashed data. Since the read and write process are merely same the Mac OS 10 x versions will not permit the drive to be mounted.
The NTFS comes under Microsoft developed one which is one of the legal obstacles for Mac OS to have legal permissions to boot and mount NTFS drive at startup or automatically. But the Mac OS from 10.3 x and later version has the options to perform read/write on NTFS drives and storage devices. The typical part lies in answering the question “How to mount a NTFS drive on Mac OS X”.
Even though the Mac OS has this option it fails to initiate automatically. If the users want to use an NTFS drive in a Mac based pc then they have to remove the restriction to read/write either manually or by using a third party application. To do it manually the user needs some basic knowledge about working in a Mac terminal. Regarding using a third party applications for mounting NTFS drive in Mac the naïve user must need to choose between the free one and the paid one. One of the free one is Mac fuse, the other used tools are NTFS – 3g and paragon.
Actually what this applications do is they will fetch the memory as a normal application from the Mac OS memory. When the user prompts to open an NTFS drive using this application they will create a simulated environment in the back and also make use of a rearranged hash table. This helps to perform read/write operations in NTFS drive. But sometimes working with third party applications will be rigorous because the third party applications will convert the files from NTFS to HFS+ or HFSX. In certain times, the conversion will be troublesome. Like trying to access a compressed files of size 9 GB, there appears the application crash and the drive will be unreadable further.
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When the same drive is used in the Windows operating system an error message will be received stating that “read / write error. Do you want to format the drive now?” If you have any important data on that particular drive, you may lose the same after forcibly formatting the drive. However, as far as data recovery is concerned, you can try to make use of good recovery software like Remo Recover Mac – Pro that has the option to retrieve files from formatted disk / drives. It is recommended as the best software in the market.