Reading PC-formatted hard drives using your Mac is easy enough. Just plug in the drive, then access the files you need to use. But writing to that drive? Well, that's a little more complicated. This is due to the fact that NTFS, the file system utilized by Windows PCs, has limited support on Mac. While you can read files from these drives just fine, if you need to write to a PC-formatted hard drive, you'll need some third-party software to get the job done.
Here are the tools you can use to work with NTFS-formatted drives on your Mac.
Microsoft NTFS for Mac
What many consider to be the go-to for writing to NTFS drives on a Mac, Microsoft NTFS comes from developer Paragon Software. It gives you complete control over how your Mac interacts with NTFS-formatted drives, letting you edit, copy, and delete files from them as though your machine had native support. The app also lets you choose how NTFS drives mount when attached to your Mac. You can choose to mount in read-only mode if you don't want to accidentally modify files but you still need access to them, or you can even choose not to mount automatically.
Microsoft NTFS for Mac is available directly from Paragon Software for $19.95 after a 10-day free trial.
Tuxera NTFS for Mac
With it, you not only enable Mac writing to NTFS but do so at blazing speeds. The speed is faster than the write speed natively supported by macOS Mojave on NTFS drives. Volume management is one of the important features of the Paragon NTFS. This app checks the drives in the Mac and repairs any issues it may pick up during this checkup. HFS+ for Windows by Paragon Software is fully compatible with Apple Boot Camp software and provides direct read and write access to Mac partitions from Windows installed on a Boot Camp. Compatible with 3 rd party software. Oct 17, 2019 Hasleo NTFS for Mac is a software designed to full read and write access to NTFS volumes on Mac, so you can use it to full read and write access to NTFS drives in Mac OS X 10.15 Catalina. Tutorial to full read & write access to NTFS drives in Mac OS X 10.15 Catalina. Download, install and run Hasleo NTFS for Mac. Jun 12, 2018 If you have a Mac and often use pendrive or hard disk to exchange data, you will certainly have failed to write on one of these external devices. The reason is very simple: macOS, the Mac operating system, cannot write to NTFS disks. With this guide, we will find out how to write NTFS disks on Mac. Oct 17, 2019 Hasleo NTFS for Mac is a software designed to full read and write access to NTFS volumes on Mac, so you can use it to full read and write access to NTFS drives in Mac OS X 10.15 Catalina. Tutorial to full read & write access to NTFS drives in Mac OS X 10.15 Catalina. Download, install and run Hasleo NTFS for Mac.
Like Microsoft NTFS, Tuxera's app lets you edit, copy, and delete files on NTFS drive on your Mac. Tuxera NTFS uses smart caching technology to speed up transfers, maintaining a sustained speed as files are moved between your external drive and your Mac. It also features failsafe technology designed to protect against unexpected power loss or an unexpected unplugging of your drive, both of which could cause data loss or even damage the drive. Tuxera also includes support for NTFS extended attributes and works with virtualization software like Parallels and VMware Fusion.
Tuxera NTFS is available from Tuxera for $31 after a 15-day free trial.
Other tools
While Paragon and Tuxera provide paid tools that integrate themselves with your Mac and do all of the necessary setup during the installation process, there are free tools that you can install, but they take some work. Fuse for macOS, for instance, requires that you use the Terminal. You'll also need to install NTFS-3G, which allows you to manually mount and write to NTFS drives. The problem is that installing NTFS-3G is a major security risk by the project's own admission, as the mount tool runs with root permissions, leaving your system exposed to possible attack. This method can't really be recommended, but it is possible.
Questions?
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If you've got any questions about working with NTFS drives on your Mac, let us know in the comments.
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