I am on macOS 26 on my MacBook Pro. I have an NTFS drive and want to use it on both my Mac and Windows computers. I know that macOS only supports reading NTFS while exFAT is cross-platform compatible, but I don’t want to reformat my drive to exFAT as I think NTFS is better. So, how can I write to NTFS drives on macOS 26?
On earlier macOS versions, we can use Terminal to enable the experimental NTFS write support on a Mac so to write to NTFS drives. Although it is unsafe and unstable, it is still free to write to NTFS drives on Mac.
From macOS Ventura, Apple has changed the NTFS mount process, so we can’t use Terminal to write to NTFS on a Mac.
I found that using NTFS-3G, a free NTFS for Mac software, can write to NTFS drives on macOS 26 Tahoe.
This NTFS for macOS Tahoe 26 freeware relies on Homebrew, macFUSE, and running Terminal. I think that it is only suitable for those computing experts who are familiar with command lines, as any mistake in command running may lead to a system crash or NTFS drive corruption.
If you are very confident in running the Terminal, follow my steps to read and write to NTFS drives on macOS Tahoe. I do this operation on my M2 MacBook Pro. Maybe there are some tiny differences among different Mac models.
Install Homebrew and macFUSE on your Mac
- Enter the command line in Terminal:
brew install autoconf automake libtool libgcrypt pkg-config gettext bash mounty
-
Restart your shell. This is to update the bash.
-
Follow these command lines to install macFUSE with brew:
brew tap macos-fuse-t/homebrew-cask
brew install fuse-t
Continue installing NTFS-3G
- Enter the command below to make a symlink:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libfuse-t.dylib /usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib
- Run the command to download the code repository from github.com. This is to create a local folder named ntfs-3g in your current directory:
git clone https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g
cd ntfs-3g
- Run the following command to trick pkg-cache:
sudo nano /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/fuse.pc
- Copy this info into the file:
prefix=/usr/local
exec_prefix=${prefix}
libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
includedir=${prefix}/include
Name: fuse
Description: Compatibility wrapper that maps fuse-t → -lfuse-t
Version: 2.9.9 # anything ≥ 2.6.0 will satisfy the test
Libs: -F/Library/Frameworks -framework fuse_t -Wl,-rpath,/Library/Frameworks
Cflags: -I/Library/Frameworks/fuse_t.framework/Headers -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64
- Run these commands:
hash -r
autoreconf -fvi
./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-fuse=external
make -j"$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)" rootlibdir=/usr/local/lib rootbindir=/usr/local/bin
sudo make install rootlibdir=/usr/local/lib rootbindir=/usr/local/bin
echo user_allow_other | sudo tee /etc/fuse.conf
# Just in case
sudo install_name_tool -add_rpath /Library/Frameworks /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g
sudo install_name_tool -add_rpath /Library/Frameworks /usr/local/bin/lowntfs-3g
sudo install_name_tool -add_rpath /Library/Frameworks /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g.probe
Now, NTFS-3G is installed on your Mac.
Go to Disk Utility to check the device identifier of your NTFS drive.
Run the command below. You should replace /dev/disk4s3 with the device identifier of your NTFS volume.
sudo umount /dev/disk4s3
sudo mkdir /Volumes/NTFS
sudo chown $(id -u) /Volumes/NTFS
sudo /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g /dev/disk4s3 /Volumes/NTFS -o local -o allow_other -o auto_xattr -o big_writes
After that, go to Finder, you’ll see a volume called fuse-t on the sidebar under Locations. Access it, and you’ll see a folder named NTFS. This is your NTFS drive. Now, you can edit files in it or add more files to it.
An easy case! No need to run multiple command lines. Just use an NTFS for Mac software to write to NTFS drives on macOS Tahoe. I know that the well-known iBoysoft NTFS for Mac has already been updated to support macOS 26. With it, writing to NTFS on macOS Tahoe becomes as easy as ABC.
This NTFS for Mac software helps automatically mount the NTFS drives in full read-write mode on macOS 26 and earlier macOS versions. You just need to download iBoysoft NTFS for Mac and install it, and then it will immediately enable your connected NTFS drives in a writable mode.
I think using this professional and Apple-authenticated NTFS driver is far safer and more reliable than running so many command lines in a shell with a risky open-source NTFS for Mac app. Do you think so?