Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

will mountain lion read/write to an NTFS external hard drive?

hi, I am looking at purchasing a new MacBook Pro and I currently have an external hard drive which I use quite a lot with my Windows pc and it is formatted to NTFS and I wanted to know whether Mountain Lion will be able to read and write to this hard drive.


thanks

OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 28, 2012 7:44 PM

Reply
60 replies

Sep 30, 2013 1:33 AM in response to tobiamoo

Connect your HDD and from a terminal

type the below to infer the UUID from your USB (replace name of your drive):

diskutil info /Volumes/<LabelOfYourDrive>


With above information of your drive you must create the below file:


/etc/fstab


(You can create the file with: sudo vi /etc/fstab)

And add the below line to the above file using the information that you got on the first command:


UUID=<replace here your diskutil info above> none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse


Once file /etc/fstab is saved you can plugin your usb hdd again, you will note that it is not on your desktop, but it is already available under:


/Volumes/<LabelOfYourDrive>


Therefore as an advise you can create a simbolic link to your desktop with the below command:


sudo ln -s /Volumes/<LabelOfYourDrive> /Users/<your user name>/Desktop/<Label of your drive>


That will allow you to open the drive from desktop and disconnect the drive properly.

Oct 1, 2013 12:26 AM in response to tobiamoo

Did the command prompt ask for your password after you entered the command? If not, I'd wager that you do not have admin privileges. Otherwise, you may have entered a wrong password.


Can you please confirm that you have admin privileges? Check System preferences -> Users & Groups. It should say admin below your username and the box "allow this user to administer this computer" should be checked.

Oct 1, 2013 4:38 AM in response to tobiamoo

o.k. sudo asks for the password only after not using sudo for 15 min or so...


however, I am completely at a loss, why you should get a permission error if you used sudo.


maybe, vi still had a lock on the file or something. I suggest you confirm that the file is empty (sudo less /etc/fstab) and then delete it (sudo rm -f /etc/fstab) and try the sudo echo command again.

Oct 1, 2013 9:14 AM in response to thawn1

I did all you suggested and then tried the sudo echo again. All seemed okay but i stiil could not write on my hard drive even after i unmounted and mounted with Disk Utility. So i decided to restart my computer to see if it would work but it didnt.


I also tried the sudo echo command again but kept getting the permission denied message. Also, when i try the sudo less command again, I get a 'no such file or directory' message

will mountain lion read/write to an NTFS external hard drive?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.