You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
Hi all. I failed to access the NTFS drive on my Mac. I need to be able to read and write files on this drive but my Mac only supports the default format, which is not NTFS. I have tried different methods but none have been successful so far. I hope I can get help here.
The easiest method is to use third-party software. Programs like NTFSGeeker, Microsoft NTFS for Mac or Tuxera NTFS for Mac can be super helpful. They're paid solutions but are very reliable for full read-write access to NTFS drives.
See this review of NTFS for Mac tool: https://www.sysgeeker.com/best-free-ntfs-for-mac-reviews.html
The easiest method is to use third-party software. Programs like NTFSGeeker, Microsoft NTFS for Mac or Tuxera NTFS for Mac can be super helpful. They're paid solutions but are very reliable for full read-write access to NTFS drives.
See this review of NTFS for Mac tool: https://www.sysgeeker.com/best-free-ntfs-for-mac-reviews.html
From my experience, if you want to read and write NTFS Drive on a Mac, the best and easiest option is to use some third-party software. Here are some available options:
Kingshiper NTFS for Mac is a very reliable and user-friendly application, that offers comprehensive support for NTFS-formatted drives, allowing you to not only read but also write files to them without any limitations. In addition, it ensures data safety and integrity throughout the process, you can access your NTFS drives without any data loss or corruption.
Paragon NTFS for Mac is a utility software developed by Paragon Software Group that enables macOS users to read and write to NTFS formatted drives. It provides a robust and reliable solution that allows macOS users to not only read data from NTFS drives but also write data to them. This means that users can edit, save, delete, and manage files on NTFS drives as if they were using a native macOS file system.
NTFS-3G is an open-source cross-platform software that provides read-write access to NTFS partitions under various operating systems. With NTFS-3G, users can both read from and write to NTFS partitions. This capability is especially useful for dual-boot systems or when accessing external NTFS drives. It also supports advanced features of NTFS, including handling of extended attributes, access control lists (ACLs), and file ownership information.
Mounty is a third-party software developed by independent developers. It essentially works by mounting NTFS partitions in read-write mode on macOS. This means that users can not only read files from NTFS drives but also write, edit, and delete files on them. When NTFS drives are ready, a notification pops up in Finder telling you when the disks are ready to be mounted in read-only mode. Once the disks are ready, they are mounted in a write-access mode in the Finder.
You don't say if you're sharing this drive with a Windows computer.
If not: Copy all of the data off to your Mac (presuming there's room), erase the drive as APFS and copy all of the data back.
If you are: Copy all of the data off to the Windows computer, erase the drive as ExFAT and copy all of the data back.
The latter requires no special drivers on either platform. Both Windows and the Mac can read/write ExFAT.
As far as I know, NTFS files can only be read on a Mac. If you want to write or edit files on an NTFS drive from a Mac, you will need a tool. Popular tools include Paragon NTFS for Mac, iBoy NTFS for Mac, and EaseUS NTFS Writer. Personally, I recommend EaseUS NTFS Writer, for I have purchased its Mac Data Recovery tool and have found their customer support service to be trustworthy and reliable.
https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6468982811
Microsoft has said that they consider Windows New Technology File System (the W is silent because there ARE no other Operating systems) to be its proprietary format, and says that it will sue anyone who writes that format without paying them royalties. Apple considers that nonsense, and does not pay those royalties.
Your Mac can freely READ those drives, but can not Write (and can not edit files while on that drive, because that involves re-writing).
Paragon or Tuxiera make NTFS Drivers and Utilities for Macs, but they are not free. Sometimes drive makers include them with a new drive they ship formatted an NTFS.
A drive set up by the maker as Windows New Technology File System (NTFS) can have MacOS Volumes created on it, either MacOS extended or APFS, when those Utilities are present. But when the Utilities are not there (a different Mac, a different MacOS, or something else) the drive won't mount. But It will show up in Disk Utility.
We occasionally see drives fail because they were not ERASEd when new, but the maker's Utilities were installed. All proceeds fine until that Driver is not included in the MacOS image being used, then the drive 'mysteriously' stops working. When the Mac gets its MacOS software updated, the drivers do not routinely get updated automatically, and the user complains their drive no longer works.
.
How to Read and Write NTFS Drive on Mac?
