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My coworkers use NTFS partitions, and I can't share my data with them, as NTFS on Mac OS X is read-only.

How can I read and write onto NTFS partitions?

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  • I suggest you use @LessPop_MoreFizz solution because if you use NTFS-3G you may encounter some bugs such as: all NTFS drives will disappear from the "Startup Disk" preference pane
    – Am1rr3zA
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 22:09
  • I'd rather use a solid MacFuse-based solution like NTFS-3G which runs in userspace (it means that if it crashes it won't crash your mac) than an untested, undocumented, not recommended solution in kernelspace (it will crash your mac). See the comments on MacOSX Hints for more evidence. Also, NTFS-3G now is behind a company that makes money off of this.
    – Carmine Paolino
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 22:18
  • Ok, thanks to all for the answers, I will try the NTFS-3G, I will write the feedback
    – Abimael
    Commented Aug 31, 2010 at 20:36
  • I used NTFS-3G and works very well, thanks to all :-D
    – Abimael
    Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 16:32
  • possible duplicate of External drive format to be writeable on both Mac and Windows
    – user588
    Commented Mar 1, 2011 at 17:20

6 Answers 6

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For free, you can use the NTFS-3G driver. In order to use it, you have to install MacFUSE first.

In the end, you'll have a prefpane to mount and manage your NTFS drives

ntfs-3g prefpane

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  • 1
    +1 for NTFS-3G. Used this for a long time and it works well.
    – signine
    Commented Aug 25, 2010 at 20:26
  • The latest free version is from Oct 2010 sourceforge.net/projects/catacombae/files/… Does it work fine for Lion? The latest paid is 2011.4.1 and they seem to fix some things in it...
    – Andy
    Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 11:48
  • I migrated to Lion last week but i didnt try it, I hope today I can try it and i will give you the feedback
    – Abimael
    Commented Aug 1, 2011 at 22:48
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    Apparently OSX Lion or newer is not supported in MacFUSE as it is no longer maintained. Work is though continued in OSXFUSE.
    – Spoike
    Commented Nov 21, 2011 at 8:42
  • Since MacFuse is not longer maintained, I downloaded OSXFuse and then NTFS-3G. Trying to open the hard disk, it gives this error -- NTFS-3G could not mount /dev/disk2s1 at /Volumes/My Passport because the following problem occurred: dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g Reason: image not found. Mac OSX version 10.9.5
    – inquisitive
    Commented Nov 9, 2015 at 7:50
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I payed(34$) for the full NTFS driver from Tuxera, the free version was not able to safely eject NTFS disks.

Update: starting with Lion, you'll not be able to share the NTFS drives even if you use NTFS-3G or Tuxera NTFS for Mac.

It may be a good idea to reformat your drive to EXFAT in order to overcome these issues. I know it's a real pain and time killer.

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You have 3 main choices :

and even a built-in solution inside Mac OS X.

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If you're running Snow Leopard, don't bother with various MacFUSE based solutions - NTFS support is built in, but disabled by default. To enable it, read this.

Snow Leopard has the ability to mount NTFS volumes as read/write, but it's not enabled by default -- just read only is supported, as in 10.5. Here's how to get full read/write support for NTFS drives in Snow Leopard. First, uninstall NTFS-3G or Paragon if you're using either one.

Here's how to get read/write support for NTFS drives in Snow Leopard:

  1. In Terminal, type diskutil info /Volumes/volume_name, where volume_name is the name of the NTFS volume. From the output, copy the Volume UUID value to the clipboard.

  2. Back up /etc/fstab if you have it; it shouldn't be there in a default install.

  3. Type sudo nano /etc/fstab.

  4. In the editor, type UUID=, then paste the UUID number you copied from the clipboard. Type a Space, then type none ntfs rw. The final line should look like this: UUID=123-456-789 none ntfs rw, where 123-456-789 is the UUID you copied in the first step.

  5. Repeat the above steps for any other NTFS drives/partitions you have.

  6. Save the file and quit nano (Control-X, Y, Enter), then restart your system.

After rebooting, NTFS partitions should natively have read and write support. This works with both 32- and 64-bit kernels. Support is quite good and fast, and it even recognizes file attributes such as hidden files. My thanks go to Chrysaor, a MacRumors user who brought this to our attention.

Alternately, you could use NTFSMounter, for a GUI utility to do the same thing.

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    The built-in write support is disabled because it is unstable. I've corrupted a drive using it.
    – zneak
    Commented Aug 25, 2010 at 2:40
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I use NTFS-3G with really good success, never lost a bit also sharing the same disk with windows machines and a WD media player connected to my TV.

Only very minor issue I've found was that to proper reclaim space from the disk when I delete file I need to run a Maintenance utility or the Disk Utiity to recover space.

See also http://www.phillo.it/?p=9

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Here is a good description how to access NTFS partitions. Basically - install NTFS-3G via macports http://fernandoff.posterous.com/ntfs-write-support-on-osx-lion-with-ntfs-3g-f

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