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How to Read & Write NTFS Drives on Mac For Free?

Updated on Tuesday, March 26, 2024

iBoysoft author Amanda Wong

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Amanda Wong
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[3 Ways] How to Read and Write Microsoft NTFS Drives on Mac

Summary: This post explains whether Mac users can read and write NTFS drives on macOS Sonoma/Ventura/Monterey/Big Sur. Plus it provides three ways to enable you to write to NTFS on Mac to gain full read-write access.

read and write NTFS drive on Mac

Cross-platform incompatibility has been a huge roadblock for Mac users who have to move back and forth between Windows computers and Mac computers, especially when you need to share files between Windows and macOS using an NTFS(stands for NT File System) drive.

After you connected the Windows disk with NTFS format to the Mac, you found that you could read NTFS files on Mac, but you couldn't edit, rename, paste, delete, create, or move files to the NTFS drive on Mac because Mac doesn't support NTFS write by default.

Is there a way to read and write to NTFS on Mac? You can directly format the Microsoft NTFS drive to a file system supported by macOS, while you will lose all the files stored on the drive. Keep reading to know the different methods in this post to fully access and use NTFS drive on Mac if you don't want to format the NTFS drive for Mac.

Ways to use NTFS drives in read-write mode on Mac:

Options to read and write NTFS on MacCompatibilityDifficulty Level
Paid NTFS drivers for Mac like iBoysoft NTFS for MacAll macOS versions even the latest Ventura and Mac modelsEasy-Directly read and write the NTFS drive on Mac with full access via the professional NTFS drives for Mac
Free NTFS drives for Mac such as Mounty for NTFSmacOS Monterey and earlier, Intel MacsHard-Unfriendly installation which requires to extensive knowledge of command lines, FUSE for macOS, Homebrew, or Xcode to be able to compile the code.
Enable NTFS write on Mac via TerminalmacOS Monterey and earlier, Intel&Apple silicon MacsMedium-Need to run command in Terminal to gain NTFS write support on Mac.

Also, you can follow this video guide: How to Use NTFS drives on Mac? 

 Table of Contents:

 

How to write NTFS drive on Mac

This part talks about how to enable Mac NTFS write support. Each method has pros and cons. You can choose the method that suits your case best to enable NTFS write on Mac. The 3 methods to grant NTFS write access on Mac include:

  • Professional NTFS for Mac software
  • Free NTFS drivers for Mac
  • Apple's native NTFS support with terminal 

Option 1. Write NTFS on Mac with an easy-to-use NTFS driver

Using a commercial third-party app is the easiest and fastest way to enable NTFS write support on Mac without formatting NTFS drives to a compatible file system. Although costing a little money, it offers high reliability, fast write speed, excellent compatibility, and free technical support. These benefits you probably won't get from free NTFS drivers for Mac.

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is one of the best. It provides fast macOS NTFS write and file transferring speed. You won't feel any difference between using a Microsoft NTFS drive on Mac and other macOS-supported formats. And now, it also supports writing to NTFS on Mac with Apple silicon M1 or M2 chips. Without it, you can read and write NTFS on macOS Sonoma, the latest macOS version. Download iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to fully read and write the NTFS drive on Mac now!

There is a tutorial video about how to read NTFS on Mac and gain Mac NTFS write access with iBoysoft NTFS for Mac. This video tutorial can also help you fix the USB drive is read only Mac problem.

Steps to read and write to NTFS on Mac:

1. Free download and install iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on Mac.

2. Connect your NTFS drive to your Mac computer.

3. After your drive is mounted successfully, you can access NTFS disk on Mac and read/write NTFS files. If necessary, you'll be asked to install an NTFS driver by iBoysoft and enable System Extensions to gain full disk access.

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac

There is a free-trail version of iBoysoft NTFS for Mac. Don't lose this chance to experience its excellent performance to write to NTFS on macOS for free.

This wonderful software is also available for any other NTFS hard drive, for example, the WD My Passport NTFS drive, as long as you install a wonderful iBoysoft WD NTFS driver for Mac on your device.

Option 2. Gain Mac NTFS support via a free NTFS driver

 Update: Sadly, Apple has changed the entire mount process on macOS Ventura. It removed the previous kernel-based architecture - /System/Library/Extensions/ntfs.kext. It means all free NTFS for Mac drivers including Mounty for NTFS and others and terminal commands will not function on macOS 13 Ventura anymore. 

If you don't want to use a commercial NTFS driver for Mac or format NTFS, there are some free NTFS for Mac you can choose from. For example, you can use an open-source project called FUSE for macOS. It can mount the Microsoft NTFS drive in read-write mode.

Although they are free to use, the process is very complicated and technical, involving so many command lines and rebooting the Mac. If you want to try such a free program, please follow the guide very carefully and all attempts are at your own risk.

Step 1. Download and install Xcode.

Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal and run the following command: xcode-select --installThen, click "install" when you are asked to install Apple's command line developer tools.

Step 2. Download and install Homebrew.

Go to the Terminal window and run the following command:

[/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Then, Hit Enter to install it (provide the password when prompted).

 Note: If you have installed Xcode and Homebrew before, messages will pop up in the Terminal window telling you have installed them before. You just ignore the messages and keep doing the next steps.

Step 3. Download and install FUSE for macOS.

Use default options when installing it.

Step 4. Install NTFS-3G.

Go to Terminal window and run the following command: brew install homebrew/fuse/ntfs-3g

Step 5. Disable SIP (System Integrity Protection).

SIP exists to protect the operating systems from unauthorized changes.

  • Restart your Mac and hold down Command + R immediately until you see the Apple logo.
  • Open Terminal from the Utilities menu.
  • Run the command: csrutil disable
  • Hit Enter.
  • Reboot the Mac.

Step 6. Read and write to NTFS on Mac.

  • Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
  • Run the following command:

sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.original sudo ln -s /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs

  • Hit Enter.

 Note: It is recommended that you enable SIP after you finish using NTFS on Mac to better protect your Mac. To enable SIP, you just need to follow Step 5 and run the command line "csrutil enable" in the Terminal window, hit Enter, and restart the Mac.

Other than FUSE for macOS, Mounty for Mac, NTFS-3G, SL-NTFS are other free NTFS for Mac. They are free, but all of them require a good bit of work to install and use.

Option 3. Help Mac write to NTFS drive using Terminal

I bet most Mac users don't know that the macOS includes the experimental NTFS write support, but it is disabled by default. You can run some command lines in Terminal to enable macOS NTFS write support.

However, Apple hasn't officially supported NTFS-writing ability yet. It is proven to be unstable and risky. It may cause disk corruption and permanent data loss. In case you couldn't access your NTFS drives or lost data from them, try iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery to recover important files.

This solution is not recommended, but if you are curious about how to enable write support for specific Microsoft Windows disks using macOS Terminal, follow the steps below:

1. Go to the Applications > Utilities > Terminal to launch the Terminal program.

2. Input "sudo nano /etc/fstab" to edit the fstab file (provide your password when prompted). No letters will show up when you type in password.

Apple NTFS write support step 1

3. Type "LABEL=DISKNAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse" in the editor window for the fstab file and press "Control + O" to write. (Be sure to change the word DISKNAME to the name of your NTFS drive)

 Tips: If you have multiple NTFS drives you want to write to, write different lines for each NTFS drive.

Apple NTFS write support 3

4. Hit Enter and press "Control + C" and then "Control + X" to exit.

5. Re-connected the NTFS drive to the Mac.

6. Click "Go" at the top left menu bar and choose "Go to Folder".

7. Type in /Volomes and hit Enter.

8. Find the NTFS volume or drive and drag it to the sidebar for easy access.

 Tips: If you want to undo the change, follow step 1 and step 2, then delete the command line. Save your change and exit.

A lot of users reported that the set of commands above didn't work on macOS Monterey. Please find another set of commands below. They are more complicated.

1. Open Terminal and input the command sudo umount Volumes/DISKNAME and hit the Return key to unmount your disk. Replace the DISKNAME with the name of your device.

2. Run the command sudo mkdir /Volumes/1 to create a mount point for your NTFS volume.

3. Run command sudo mount -t ntfs -o rw, auto, nobrowse /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/1 to mount the NTFS on Mac computer in read and write mode. The "disk2s2" is the Device info of the NTFS drive in Disk Utility. Yours might be different.  

NTFS Disk Utility device info

4. Quit the Terminal and open NTFS volume on Mac for use.

Which methods would your prefer to read and write NTFS drives on Mac? Let us know your choice in the comments section at the end of this article. If you have encounter other problems while reading and writing NTFS drives on Mac, you can also let us know, we are willing to help!

Dose macOS Ventura support NTFS

Apple announced the nineteenth major release of macOS - macOS 13 Ventura on June 6, 2022, and the official release to the general public was sent on October 24. It turns out that the macOS Ventura still doesn't support writing to NTFS drives. Just like on macOS Monterey or earlier versions, Apple has limited support for the NTFS format, you can only read files on the NTFS drive but can not write to them.

Can macOS read NTFS?

Yes, macOS lets you read Windows NTFS-formatted USB flash drives, sd cards, memory sticks, and external hard drives without any problem. The Windows NTFS partition created by Boot Camp Assistant can also be read on Mac.

No matter what Mac computer you are using, either a desktop or a laptop, and no matter which version of Mac operating system is running on your Mac, macOS, or Mac OS X, you can read NTFS on Mac.

 

How to read NTFS drive on Mac

As Mac can read NTFS file system, how to view an NTFS file on Mac is no longer a problem. Like any other Mac-compatible disk, you just need to double-click the disk icon on Mac's desktop to open it in Finder. Then double-click the NTFS file to open it. 

The file will appear of the same quality as it does on a PC, but you can't make any changes to it because a “Read-only” or “Locked” sign shows beside the file name.  

We introduce 3 ways to change the read-only state NTFS drive to both readable and writable. You will be able to use the NTFS disk on Mac like using it on a Windows computer with full read and write access. 

 

Conclusion

Letting Mac read NTFS and write to NTFS files is totally possible. In addition to changing the file system by formatting which erases all the contents, you have several options to choose from - free NTFS drivers, cost-effective NTFS drivers, and Apple's native NTFS support.

Free NTFS drivers for Mac and Apple's NTFS support are free but take an extra amount of work to mount NTFS drive on Mac in read-write mode. They are risky and very unstable. Even though iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is not completely free, it saves you a lot of time and effort with its excellent reliability and ease of use.

If you need to use the external drive for file transferring between Windows computers and Mac computers frequently, it is a good idea to convert NTFS to FAT32 or exFAT in macOS Disk Utility. If you will use this Windows NTFS drive on Mac later, you can also choose to convert NTFS to APFS.

 

FAQS about NTFS on Mac

A

macOS only supports reading NTFS on Mac. You can view the stored files on the Windows NTFS disk on Mac. However, you can not move, copy, edit, etc., the files on NTFS drives on Mac by default.

A

You are not allowed to directly write to NTFS on Mac. But there are some workarounds you can apply, including using third-party NTFS driver for Mac and enabling the Apple;s NTFS support in Terminal. It is recommended to choose the commercial but easy-to-use iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to access NTFS drive on Mac.

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