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Tuxera NTFS for Mac Review: Is It Worth Using & Alternatives

Updated on Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Written by

Connie Yang

Approved by

Jessica Shee

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Summary: An overview of Tuxera NTFS for Mac, including its usage, pros and cons, overview, alternatives, and differences between other tools. The best alternative to Tuxera NTFS for Mac is iBoysoft NTFS for Mac, which supports full read-write access on all Mac models and the latest macOS Sonoma.

The problem of external hard drives being read-only on Mac is usually due to the NTFS format of the drive. It requires an NTFS for Mac tool. 

So, what is NTFS for Mac?  It is a utility that enables you to delete, rename, add, or copy files and folders to NTFS formatted drives on Mac. And Tuxera NTFS for Mac is such an app.

This post will help you learn about Tuxera NTFS for Mac thoroughly, including its pros and cons, way of use, main features and functionalities, OS requirements, price, etc. Moreover, we also compare it with the known alternatives -  iBoysosft NTFS for Mac and Paragon NTFS for Mac. Come on, follow us to get a comprehensive learning of Tuxera NTFS for Mac.

  • Pros of Tuxera NTFS for Mac:
  • Support read-write access to NTFS drives on Mac
  • Offer disk management functions
  • Compatible with macOS 15 (Sequoia) - Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
  • Support Intel- and Apple silicon-based Macs
  • Modern UI
  • Cons of Tuxera NTFS for Mac:
  • Requiring restart of your Mac after installation
  • Having conflicts with other NTFS drivers
  • Slow write speed for NTFS drives

Download the best alternative of Tuxera NTFS for Mac that supports macOS Sequoia and start to read and write to your NTFS drives on Mac securely, quickly, and easily.

Is Tuxera NTFS for Mac safe & worth using?

Tuxera NTFS for Mac is an Apple-trusted and legal product that works to make the NTFS drives both readable and writable on Mac. 

Tuxera claims that it uses a well-designed process to prevent potential security risks and vulnerabilities in its NTFS for Mac software. So, you don't need to worry that it is unsafe for your Mac device. However, due to the settings of Tuxera NTFS for Mac, conflicts and system crashes may happen if your Mac also installs other NTFS mounters.

How to use Tuxera NTFS for Mac

To get full read and write access to an NTFS drive with Tuxera NTFS for Mac, you should download and install this driver first.

Here's how to download and install Tuxera NTFS for Mac on your Mac:

  1. Download Tuxera NTFS for Mac installer from Tuxera's official site to your Mac.
  2. Double-click Install Tuxera NTFS at the pop-up when the installation package is downloaded.
  3. Click Open when asked if you want to open the Tuxera NTFS software.
  4. Click Allow when it alerts you that the Tuxera package will run a program to install the software.
  5. Click Continue and follow the instructions to install Tuxera NTFS for Mac. 
    Note: Tuxera NTFS for Mac will install on your startup volume (macOS or Macintosh - HD volume in Disk Utility) and take 67.4MB of space. Make sure your startup volume has enough storage space.
  6. Select Trial version.
  7. Click Restart to reboot your Mac. 

After Tuxera NTFS is installed on your Mac, you should connect your NTFS drive to your Mac and open the NTFS drive in Finder. Then, you can read NTFS drives on your Mac and write, edit, copy, move, or delete files on NTFS drives from your Mac.

Tuxera NTFS for Mac interface, features, & price

If you want to get a full learning of Tuxera NTFS for Mac before using it, you can read this part carefully. We'll introduce everything about Tuxera NTFS for Mac, including its UI, functions, highlights, and price.

Tuxera NTFS for Mac interface and functions

The interface of Tuxera NTFS looks like the Disk Utility of macOS. On the left sidebar, it lists all the drives connected to your Mac and their volumes. On the right, it shows up the basic information of the selected disk or volume by default.

There is only an Info option for drives while volumes are designed with Info, Format, and Maintenance functions.

  • Info: Show the basic information of the drive or volume, including its file system, disk identifier, removability, etc.
  • Format: Clean up the data stored on the volume and format it with a new file system, including APFS, exFAT, Mac OS Extended, FAT, FAT32, and NTFS.
  • Maintenance: Check and repair the possible errors on your volume to make it work well.

Moreover, there are two functions for drives and volumes separately in the lower-left corner of the Tuxera NTFS interface.

  • Eject: To safely eject a connected external hard drive.
  • Mount/Unmount: It means whether or not you are allowed to access the volume.

Tuxera NTFS for Mac advanced features

There are a variety of NTFS for Mac drivers in the market. Each one has its specific features, and Tuxera is no exception. Here we list the highlights of Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Tuxera.

Support full NTFS read-write access on Mac

By default, an NTFS drive is read-only on Mac. In other words, you are only allowed to read the files on NTFS drives, or copy files from the NTFS drive and paste them onto your Mac.

Tuxera NTFS for Mac supports NTFS extended attributes, including NTFS read and write extended attributes, which enables you to read and write to an NTFS similar to read-write an HFS+ drive on Mac. You can copy files to an NTFS drive on Mac, delete unnecessary files on NTFS drives from Mac, directly edit documents on your NTFS drives on Mac, etc.

Enable efficient disk management

Tuxera NTFS for Mac also works as a disk manager. It has functions and preferences for managing all drives connected to your Mac. Its "Maintenance" option allows you to check and repair errors on a volume. And the "Format" feature can erase a volume for new use. It can be said that Tuxera NTFS is similar to the Disk Utility of macOS.

However, it only provides management options for volumes while nothing for managing disks.

Empower high macOS and hardware compatibility

Tuxera NTFS supports macOS 14 (Sonoma), 13 (Ventura), 12 (Monterey), 11 (Big Sur), macOS 10.15 (Catalina), macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), and macOS 10.14 (Mojave), and previous versions. It even supports the earliest Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Moreover, it fully supports both Intel- and Apple silicon-based Mac models.

Tuxera NTFS for Mac editions and prices

There's no free Tuxera NTFS for Mac software. It has three editions: Personal license, Business license, and Education license.

The Personal license price is $15 per license and is only for one-person use.

The prices of Business and Education licenses depend on the number of users.

If you want to use Tuxera NTFS for Mac for free, you can try its 15-day free trial. Or, you can find free NTFS for Mac here: Best Free NTFS for Mac.

Best alternatives to Tuxera NTFS for Mac

Is there any better option than Tuxera NTFS for Mac? Yes. Tuxera NTFS for Mac is actually developed based on NTFS-3G, an open-source, which is contributed by kinds of Linux distributions. So, it's prone to corrupt data on your drives.

Besides, some users complained that Tuxera NTFS could not mount their NTFS dives and the write speed to NTFS drives is so slow.

For the sake of data security and performance, we recommend the three best alternatives of Tuxera NTFS for Mac. Two of them are developed by iBoysoft, an Apple-trusted and authorized developer. The left is developed by Paragon, a well-known company.

1. iBoysoft NTFS for Mac: cost-effective, safe, high write speed

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is highly integrated with macOS. It allows you to read-write NTFS disks with full read-write access on Mac. Once the NTFS drive is connected to your Mac, you can find it in Finder and write and edit files on the drive with ease.

Positives:

  • Allow full read-write NTFS drives on Mac.
  • NTFS for Mac Sequoia, Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, and Big Sur.
  • Support M1, M2, M3 & M4 Mac, Intel + T2 Security Chip Mac, and other Macs.
  • Free trial available.
  • Easy to install and uninstall.
  • High security.

Negatives:

  • No phone support.

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac vs. Tuxera NTFS for Mac

 Supported macOSAuto-mountTransfer SpeedPriceModern InterfaceOthers highlights
iBoysoft NTFS for MacmacOS 15 - macOS 10.13YesFastFree trialYes1. Support Intel- and Apple silicon-based Macs
2. Clean NTFS volumes 
3. Format to NTFS
Tuxera NTFS for MacmacOS 15 - OS X 10.4YesRelatively slowFree trialYesCheck NTFS drives

2. iBoysoft DiskGeeker: support BitLocker encrypted NTFS drives

iBoysoft DiskGeeker is a Mac disk utility tool that enables the read-write capacities of NTFS drives, even for the BitLocker encrypted NTFS drives. You can also use it to manage your BitLocker disks, network drives, and other external drives with its enhanced features and preferences.

Positives:

  • Mount NTFS drives in read-write mode on Mac.
  • Read-write BitLocker encrypted drives on Mac.
  • Support M2, M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max Mac.
  • Support macOS 15 - OS X 10.13 (High Sierra).
  • Map network drives as native drives.
  • Unified management of all connected disks.
  • Prevent virus attacks.
  • Clean junk files on the drive.
  • Clone contents on a drive to another one.
  • Check disk errors.
  • Offer a free trial and is cost-effective.

Negatives:

  • Yearly subscription.

iBoysoft DiskGeeker vs. Tuxera NTFS for Mac

 Supported macOSAuto-mountTransfer SpeedPriceModern InterfaceOthers highlights
iBoysoft DiskGeekermacOS 15 - macOS 10.13YesFastFree trialYes1. Map network drives in Finder
2. Read/write BitLocker drive on Mac
3. Encrypt drive with FileVault or BitLocker
4. Support Intel- and Apple silicon-based Macs
5. Clean junk files
6. Diagnose disk errors
7. Clone disks
8. USB defender
Tuxera NTFS for MacMac macOS 14 - OS X 10.4YesRelatively slowFree trialYesCheck NTFS drives

3. Paragon NTFS for Mac: easy-to-use & stable

Paragon NTFS for Mac also enables you to read-write NTFS drives on Mac. When Paragon vs. Tuxera NTFS for Mac, you'll find that Paragon supports a more stable file transfer. It helps you exchange data between the NTFS drives smoothly and takes you less time.

Positives:

  • Allow read-write NTFS drives on Mac.
  • Support macOS Ventura - macOS Sierra.
  • Support ARM-based and Intel-based Macs and Apple Silicon Macs.
  • Having stable and high data transfer speed.

Negatives:

  • Very hard to uninstall.
  • Pay for major updates.
  • Not support read-write encrypted NTFS drives.
  • One license only for one Mac device.

Overall, whether Tuxera vs. Paragon NTFS for Mac or Tuxera vs. iBoysoft NTFS for Mac, Tuxera has fewer advantages. So, think twice before using Tuxera NTFS.

Paragon NTFS for Mac vs. Tuxera NTFS for Mac

 Supported macOSAuto-mountTransfer SpeedPriceModern InterfaceOthers highlights
Paragon NTFS for MacmacOS 15 - 10.12YesFastFree trialYes1. Format to NTFS
2. Support Apple silicon Macs
Tuxera NTFS for MacmacOS 14 - OS X 10.4YesRelatively slowFree trialYesCheck NTFS drives

Final thoughts

Tuxera NTFS really helps read-write NTFS drives on Mac, which is easier than using Terminal. But to be honest, Tuxera NTFS for Mac is a commercial Windows NTFS add-on driver, bringing higher risk in data security. You'd better try some alternatives to it, such as iBoysoft NTFS for Mac. At last, hope you can get comprehensive learning of Tuxera NTFS for Mac from this article.