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Can I Copy Files From An NTFS-formatted Drive to Mac?

My PC laptop died and I have two external NTFS formatted hard drives. I searched this issue on a forum and the answer given then was as follows, 'Mac OS X can only read files on an NTFS formatted external hard drive -- it cannot write files to such a drive [OK, that is clear to me]. If you copy a file from an NTFS formatted hard drive to the internal hard drive of your Mac, there are absolutely no restrictions on what you can do to that copy of the file.' So, to me, this means I can modify the JPEG file on my Mac using Photoshop, right? No reformatting of the NTFS drive is necessary?

Best Answered by

Eudora Liu

Answered on Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The simplest way for you to copy files from an NTFS drive to your Mac is to directly drag them from your drives to your Mac. Or else, you can select all the files you want to copy and then press Command + C and Command + V to copy and paste them to your Mac.

Easy for you to copy files from an NTFS drive to your Mac. But you may fail to copy files from your Mac back to your NTFS drive. Mac doesn't support you to write on an NTFS drive but read it.

If you don't want to format your external hard drive, you can use third-party software to help you mount your drive in read-write mode. iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a professional NTFS reader that allows you to mount your drives in read-write mode so that you can write, copy, delete, or rename files on it without formatting. If your Mac is M1 or M2 based, you will be asked to enable System Extensions by installing the iBoysoft driver.

Following the below steps to mount your NTFS drive on your Mac.

 Download

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac

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  1. Download and launch iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.
  2. Connect your NTFS drive to your Mac and then wait for it to mount successfully.

After that, you can copy files from the NTFS-formatted drive to your Mac without formatting.