Before you are led to the introduction of free NTFS for Mac, here is some background information in case you don't know.
By Juno | Posted to NTFS for Mac Tips, updated on May 29, 2020
NTFS for Mac OS X is a software that allows detecting an NTFS storage device with a Mac OS. It is possible to modify, erase all stored data in this volume. With high performance of the Mac system, NTFS for Mac OS X offers the same transfer rate as the native format of Mac OS. The user can then extract any stored data in his NTFS drive and copy it to another emplacement. Download the latest version of Mounty for NTFS for Mac. Read and write NTFS format hard drives on your Mac. Many Mac users know the frustration of trying to.
You can read Windows NTFS drives on Mac. But Mac can't write to NTFS drives, including create, edit, copy, paste, delete, or transfer files on NTFS drive on Mac desktops and laptops. Do you know why?
NTFS is a file system developed by Microsoft, the competitor of Apple. NTFS is used by default on Windows platform, especially for system drive. Additionally, if you use Boot Camp to create a Windows partition on your Mac, you will find you can't mount BOOTCAMP partition with read-write access either. Up to now, Mac operating systems, including macOS Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra/Sierra and Mac OS X El Capitan, only provide NTFS read support but deny NTFS write support.
You know the business, but for users, is there any way to let Mac write NTFS drives? Can you make the NTFS drive fully compatible with macOS or Mac OS X? Sure. The easiest method is to use NTFS driver for macOS software.
Download Ntfs Mounter For Mac Os
If you are looking for a totally free NTFS for Mac software, there are four options: Mounty for NTFS, NTFS-3G, FUSE for macOS and SL-NTFS.
Top 4 NTFS for Mac free software
Some Mac users may have upgraded to macOS Catalina and are digging around for an NTFS driver for macOS 10.15. But it's hard to find a Free NTFS for Mac that supports macOS 10.15 yet. Fortunately, iBoysoft has upgraded their software iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to be compatible with macOS Catalina.
If you are using a Mac running macOS 10.14 and earlier, you can try the NTFS for Mac below and share NTFS drives between Windows and Mac.
1. Mounty for NTFS
Mounty for NTFS is completely NTFS for Mac free software to enable write ability to NTFS drives on your Mac. It has simple design to help users mount NTFS drives with write support on Mac.
As a free utility, Mounty for NTFS does have some highlights:
But Mounty for NTFS dose get complaints because:
2. NTFS-3G
NTFS-3G is an open-source project from Tuxera, so the public can download this NTFS for Mac free software to write to Windows NTFS drives on your Mac computers
Set aside its advantage for being free, NTFS-3G is complained a lot because of its poor performance. Some main drawbacks of this free NTFS for Mac are listed below:
3. FUSE for macOS
FUSE for macOS (was OSXFUSE) is another open and NTFS for Mac free software that can enable write support to NTFS drives on Mac. In fact, FUSE is a file system extension that allows user to read and write disks with the formats that are not fully supported by Apple.
FUSE for macOS is worth trying because:
As a free NTFS for Mac, FUSE for macOS has some obvious limitations:
4. SL-NTFS
SL-NTFS means Snow Leopard NTFS. As a matter of fact, writing to NTFS drive on Apple is possible since Mac OS 10.6 without any third-party NTFS driver, but the NTFS writing support is disabled by default. Therefore, SL-NTFS is used as an interface on the Apple NTFS driver to enable writing to NTFS drives on Mac.
As a NTFS for Mac free app, SL-NTFS has some pros as followings:
However, SL-NTFS has some cons to prevent people from using it.
Generally speaking, despite of being free, those NTFS for Mac free software have various flaws, making them very risky to use.
If you are afraid of using a risky free NTFS utility for Mac, there are two cost-effective alternatives for you. Even though they are not completely free, they can provide a lot of merits that NTFS for Mac free software on't have.
Best NTFS for Mac software
NTFS for Mac free software can be troublemakers because of their low write speed, poor compatibility, no technical support, etc. Nevertheless, you don't have to pay a fortune to get enough reliability, stability and simplicity from a cost-effective NTFS for Mac - iBoysoft NTFS for Mac or iBoysoft Drive Manager.
1. iBoysoft NTFS for Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is an ultimate NTFS for Mac solution in macOS and Mac OS X that can easily help you mount NTFS volumes on Mac desktops and laptops as regular drives in read-write mode.
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iBoysoft NTFS for Mac has quite a few advantages you can take into account:
2. iBoysoft Drive Manager
Another great alternative to NTFS for Mac free software is iBoysoft Drive Manager. It is a handy Mac tool that can enable full read-write access to NTFS drives on Mac and help manage multiple external drives/network drives with one click.
iBoysoft Drive Manager is a great replacement of a free NTFS for Mac because:
If you want to know any disadvantages that iBoysoft Drive Manager might have, I would say the only one should be - it is not free. But it is really cheap compared with other commercial NTFS for Mac programs, such as Paragon and Tuxera.
We also provide a table to help you find the most preferable NTFS driver:
Mac Mount Ntfs Write
Now, you have a few options in your hands. If you don't care the risks and want to try out the free NTFS for Mac programs, generally speaking, Mounty for NTFS and FUSE for macOS are better ones. However, if you care about the reliability, technical support and NTFS write speed a lot, or you are specifically looking for an NTFS driver for macOS Catalina, Mojave or High Sierra, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is your best choice.
People also ask
Q: Is NTFS for Mac free
A: There are four NTFS for Mac free software:
Q: How can Mac read NTFS for free?
A: By default, macOS Disk Utility can mount NTFS drive in read-only mode.
Q: What is the best NTFS for Mac?
A: There are three best NTFS for Mac software:
By Katrina | Posted to NTFS for Mac Tips, updated on June 1st, 2020
macOS and Windows OS are two separate operating systems, and both have their own proprietary file systems. It's well-known that Windows OS relies on NTFS, while macOS uses HFS Plus or APFS. By default, macOS mounts Windows NTFS volumes in read-only mode. So, users can't write to NTFS volumes or drives in macOS. Thus, it is a hassle when you try to move a file from Mac to Windows NTFS drives.
Some prescient users could have formatted their external hard drives for both Mac and PC before they put files on this disk. But for people who have saved many important files on the NTFS drive, formatting will cause data loss possibly. And it is rather difficult to recover lost data from formatted hard drives. Thus, formatting is not a good suggestion to make NTFS drive writable on Mac in this case.
Then, is there a way to mount NTFS on Mac with read-write support when you open NTFS drives on Mac?
Can you mount Windows NTFS drives on Mac?
Yes. You can mount NTFS drives on Mac but with read-only permission.
Mounting means that the operating system makes files and directories on a storage device (such as an external hard drive, an SD card or a USB flash drive) available for users. Usually, when you plug an external drive in to your Mac, the macOS will automatically mount it so that you can view and write to files on this drive.
However, if you connect an NTFS-formatted external hard drive to your Mac, you will find this disk is mounted but in read-only mode. That's to say, you are unable to edit, delete, copy, remove, or do any other operations except for viewing, just like the users below.
My Seagate USB drive (NTFS format) is shown in the Finder (under Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.5) with info that I have read-only access. I googled for solutions to write access to this NTFS drive. Unfortunately, as a real Mac noob, none of my attempts to fix the read-only drive worked. Also, I don't want to format this disk. What can I do to write to my NTFS formatted drive on Mac?
So, if you want to mount Windows NTFS-formatted external hard drives on Mac in read-write mode, here are three ways you can have a bash.
How to mount NTFS external hard drives on Mac in read-write mode?Solution 1: Install efficient NTFS mounter for Mac [Best]
A professional and efficient NTFS drive for Mac like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is the best solution to mount NTFS formatted drives on Mac computers.
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac - the easiest way to mount NTFS external hard drives on Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a professional NTFS mounter for Mac that enables NTFS write support on Mac effectively and natively. It can mount NTFS formatted external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. with full access, letting users edit pictures, audio files, word files, and other files on NTFS drives on Mac. It supports macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8.
In addition to being an NTFS for Mac mounter, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a great disk management tool for NTFS drives as well. It can mount and unmount serval external drives in one click, as well as repair and format NTFS drives on Mac natively and easily.
How to use iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to mount NTFS drives on Mac?
Step 1: Download, install, and launch iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your computer.
Step 2: Connect your Windows NTFS external hard drive to your Mac. Then, you'll be able to open your NTFS drive and write to it after the drive has been mounted successfully.
Solution 2: Try open-source program to mount NTFS drives on Mac [Free]
If you are looking for NTFS for Mac free software, we can provide some suggestions as well. However, the free NTFS software for Mac option, FUSE for macOS, is less reliable than paid NTFS mounter for Mac. Moreover, it involves complicated command lines and installation process, which could be a lion in the way if you are not good at command prompt.
Here are the details about how to mount NTFS drives on Mac with FUSE for macOS.
Warning: The following instructions assume that you know how to use the Terminal. Doing this the wrong command line could damage your Mac operating system.
Step 1: Disable the System Integrity Protection of your Mac if you are running macOS 10.13 and newer, which will put your Mac at a vulnerable place.
Step 2: Download FUSE for macOS at GitHub.com and install it.
Step 3: Download and install Homebrew on your Mac.
Step 4: Simply click Go at the upper right of your desktop, choose Utilities, then find Terminal and open it.
Step 5: Type in brew install ntfs-3g in the command prompt and hit Enter to install NTFS-3G from Homebrew. You need to provide the password when it is asked.
Ntfs For Mac Key
Step 6: Type in sudo mkdir /Volumes/NTFS in the Terminal and hit Enterto create an NTFS mount point.
Step 7: Type in diskutil list and hit Enter to list the volumes connected to this Mac, then you'll find the name of your NTFS volume. (For example, the identifier is disk3s1.)
Step 8: Type in sudo /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g /dev/disk3s1 /Volumes/NTFS -olocal -oallow_other and hit Enterin the command prompt. (Remember to replace disk3s1 with the name of your NTFS volume.)
After these operations, you'll find your NTFS volume of the external hard drive is mounted on your desktop with read-write access. However, as you can see, it is complicated because you can only mount one NTFS volume each time. And it is risky if you are a Mac-noob who knows little about the command line. Moreover, you need to disable SIP and unlock the encrypted APFS volume if your Mac are running macOS 10.13 High Sierra, 10.14 Mojave 10.15 Catalina.
To sum up, Mounting NTFS on Mac in this way is so complicated.
Even though it's a free mounter to mount NTFS formatted external hard drives on Mac, it is not recommended due to the complication and potential risk.
Solution 3: Enable the experimental NTFS support in macOS [Not recommended]
Actually, Mac does come with NTFS read-write support but it is disabled by default. This way to mount NTFS in macOS and Mac OS X is least tested, so it has an unstable performance. Therefore, you are not advised to conduct this solution if you have important files saved on this NTFS drive, in case you lose data during this process.
Well, if you want to know the exact details out of curiosity, back up your files first and do the following steps.
Warning: It will involve the command line to enable NTFS write support in macOS. So, if you are not good at the Terminal, you'd better not try this out. It's very easy to input a wrong command and result in unexpected damage to your Mac and data inside.
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Step 1: Click Go on the upper right of your desktop and go to Utilities folder, then launch the Terminal program.
Step 2: Input sudo nano /etc/fstab to edit the fstab file and hitEnter(Please supply your password when prompted).
Step 3: Type in LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse and hit Enterin the editor window for the fstab file. (You need to change the word NAME to the name of your NTFS external drive.)
Step 4: Press Control + O to save what you have done, and then press Control+ X to quit the nano text editor.
Step 5: Unmount this NTFS external hard drive and reconnect it to your Mac again.
After this, this NTFS drive is mounted successfully on your Mac, but it won't pop up automatically and shows up on your desktop like other drives normally do. Instead, you need to access it in the Finder window.
Step 1: Click Go and choose Go to Folder.
Step 2: Type /Volumes in the box and hit Enter.
You can view NTFS drives as they will be showing up under the '/Volumes' directory, and you can read and write to files on this drive. But still, you can only mount one NTFS drive each time with so many steps.
Free Download Ntfs 3g For MacWrap-upDownload Ntfs-3g Macbook
In conclusion, a paid NTFS for Mac driver is the best solution to mount Windows NTFS formatted external hard drives or mount BOOTCAMP NTFS partition on Mac in read and write mode. Software like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is simple and efficient for inexperienced users. Nevertheless, the freeware to mount Windows NTFS drives on Mac is not well-performed, and users could lose data when disk is corrupted due to instability and complicated operations.
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