How do I write to NTFS drives in OS X?

Question

What is the best, easiest, preferably cheapest way to make OS X write to NTFS-formatted drives in Mac OS X?

Answer 1

Updated at May 2015, with current solutions.

Free solutions

FUSE for OS X - Successor to MacFUSE

NTFS-3G
Requires a build from source for anything newer than 2010. Last "pre built" version linked from http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/ntfs-3g-for-mac-os-x-2010102.html You can build it from source using homebrew in the other answers.

Paid solutions

Paragon NTFS

Tuxera NTFS

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MacFuse is abandonware, and hasn't been updated since 2009.

Answer 2

This answer is for latest compatibility for OS X 10.11 El Capitan, macOS 10.12 Sierra, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.14 Mojave.

1. Install latest osxfuse (3.x.x) from GitHub. Or install it with Homebrew as follow:

   brew cask install osxfuse
   

2. Install latest NTFS-3G with Homebrew as follow:

   brew install ntfs-3g
   

3. Auto-mount NTFS volumes in read-write mode:

   Link NTFS-3G to boot after temporary disabling System Integrity Protection, as follow:

   • [reboot by holding CMD+R to get in recovery mode]

     csrutil disable
     

   • [reboot normally]

     sudo mount -uw /
     sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.original
     sudo ln -s /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs
     

   • [reboot by holding CMD+R to get in recovery mode]

     csrutil enable
     

   • [reboot normally]

You will need to re-link manually (step 3) each year when you upgrade macOS (10.11 → 10.12 → 10.13 → 10.14 → ...)

Additional steps if solution does not work:

• try to install ntfs-3g again

  brew install ntfs-3g
  

• it warns that it installed but not linked, try to link again:

  brew link ntfs-3g
  

• it fails and prints dry-run command which will show files to remove:

  brew link --overwrite --dry-run ntfs-3g
  

• remove these files with sudo ('Would remove:' is for English console)

  brew link --overwrite --dry-run ntfs-3g | grep -vF 'Would remove:' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs sudo rm
  

• try to link again and get permission error on creation /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g. brew prevents running with sudo so prepare directory for README:

  sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g
  sudo chmod a+w /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g
  

• run brew link again... success.

• reboot your Mac and allow system extension to load in System Preferences as error box suggests.

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See also the following wiki page: https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/wiki/NTFS-3G

Answer 3

I tested this on Mountain lion and it is free and you don't need to reboot. It uses OS X's native NTFS drivers.

1. Plug-in your device

2. Write in Terminal diskutil list and look for IDENTIFIER where TYPE is Windows_NTFS.

   

   In this case it is disk1s1

3. Then run the following:

   diskutil unmount /dev/disk1s1
   cd /Volumes
   mkdir Elements
   sudo mount -w -t ntfs -o rw,nobrowse /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/Elements
   open /Volumes/Elements
   

Answer 4

The simplest solution would be to use MacFUSE and NTFS-3G for MacFUSE, though as of this post only Tuxera NTFS ( ~$35 USD) and PARAGON Software NTFS for OS X v.9.0 ($19.95 USD) support 10.7. You can grab the source for free from Tuxera for free, however.

As of OS X 10.6 you can natively enable NTFS support, though your mileage may vary. Follow this writeup by Mac OS X Hints if you're interested but I'd use the MacFUSE method over this one. Keep in mind that neither of these methods are fully supported.

Answer 5

Here's how to do a one-time mount using ntfs-3g (coeur's answer but for one time use). This way doesn't require you to boot into safe mode or use csrutil at all.

NB: using ntfs-3g this way is rumored to be "safer" for write access than the built-in ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse mount option:

Install latest osxfuse (3.x.x) from https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/releases. Or install it from Homebrew with:

brew cask install osxfuse

Install latest NTFS-3GNTFS-3G from Homebrew (https://brew.sh/Homebrew), as follow:

brew install ntfs-3g

One time mount (replace disk1s1 with your values, discoverable by running a mount command after inserting the disk, you'll see a line like

/dev/disk1s1 on /Volumes/SomeNtfsDrive (ntfs, local, nodev, nosuid, read-only, noowners) grab the disk1s1:

 diskutil unmount /dev/disk1s1
 sudo mkdir /Volumes/my_writable_ntfs
 sudo /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/my_writable_ntfs -olocal -oallow_other

You'll get a popup "system extension blocked" click "Open Security Preferences" and click "Allow" next to the developer name (Benjamin Fleischer). If you can't click the allow button, see here.

Run the command again after clicking allow. It'll be good until you reboot. or manually dismount it.

For more details and instructions on making it permanent, see https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/wiki/NTFS-3G

Answer 6

Can't say that using MacFUSE and NTFS-3G for MacFUSE is the easiest way, but they are free and that's great!:) I've used them for about a year until bought 500GB external Seagate HDD and got Paragon NTFS for Mac driver for free from Seagate site: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/ntfs-driver-for-mac-os-master-dl/. Works stable for a month, no problems happened yet. Anybody knows, will users of Seagate HDDs get free NTFS driver upgrade for new OS X when Apple will release it?

Answer 7

Before we start. Make sure your external name label is ONE word. That means there is no space in between.

my disk = WRONG

my_disk or my-disk or mydisk = CORRECT

Now

1. Open Terminal [Command+Space+"terminal"]
2. Type: sudo nano /etc/fstab
3. In nano, type: LABEL=my_disk none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse Note: my_disk is your disk name
4. To save and exit Control+X and Enter and Enter
5. [optional] For ease of access, we create a sym-link to desktop: In terminal -> sudo ln -s /Volumes ~/Desktop/Volumes

Later

When you don't need it anymore. It is as simple as:

In terminal sudo rm /etc/fstab