How to read/write NTFS drive on macOS Big Sur?

Table of Contents:

• 1. How to read & write NTFS drives on macOS Big Sur?
• 2. Conclusion

Apple has released the latest Mac operating system - macOS Big Sur. Although this new operating system has optimized some features, it still hasn't addressed NTFS write support on macOS Big Sur.

As a result, you still encounter Mac external hard drive read-only situation when you want to use Windows NTFS formatted disks on macOS Big Sur.

How to write NTFS drive on macOS Big Sur? Here are three methods to do it.

• Method 1: Use NTFS for Mac software - Easy and fast
• Method 2: Enable NTFS write support via Terminal - Complicated
• Method 3: Reformat NTFS drive to exFAT - Time-consuming

How to read & write NTFS drives on macOS Big Sur?

By default, you can read the NTFS drive on Mac but can't copy files to the NTFS drive on Mac or edit existing files on it. There are three methods to enable NTFS drive write support on macOS Big Sur:

Method 1: Use NTFS for Mac software

#Fast#Safe#NTFS for Mac Big Sur#NTFS for M1 Mac

What is NTFS for Mac? Installing NTFS for Mac software is a quick and easy way to solve NTFS drive read-only problem on Mac.

NTFS for Mac, like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac, Paragon NTFS for Mac, or Tuxera NTFS for Mac, is a third-party NTFS driver to enable macOS to mount, read, and write NTFS drives on Mac. iBoysoft NTFS for Mac has been proven to have the highest performance.

With iBoyosft NTFS for Mac, you can easily enable NTFS drive write support on macOS Big Sur.

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac enables users to edit, delete, copy and move files on NTFS drives on a Mac easily without reformatting your NTFS drives into another file system. Making NTFS drive writable on a Mac will be a piece of cake with it.

Here is how to write NTFS drive in macOS Big Sur with iBoysoft NTFS for Mac:

Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your Mac.

Step 2: Insert an NTFS drive into your Mac.

Step 3: After the NTFS drive has been successfully mounted, you can open it and write to the NTFS drive as you normally do on a Windows computer.

If you are looking for NTFS for Mac free apps to achieve NTFS write support on macOS Big Sur, you might be disappointed because most freeware is not supported macOS Big Sur yet and could be very insecure.

Method 2: Enable NTFS write support using Terminal

#Free#Unsafe#One-time NTFS Write Support

The Terminal is a command line tool built-in macOS, so using this method requires more skills.

Technically speaking, Apple actually allows you to write to an NTFS drive, but it is just an experimental feature that is disabled by default for its instability.

And there is no auto-mount option but to add a different command line for each NTFS drive. It is troublesome if you want to write to multiple NTFS drives.

You can enable NTFS write support with Terminal by following these steps:

Step 1: Go to Finder>Applications>Utilities>Terminal.

Step 2: Type the command line below into the Terminal window and press Return to open the /etc/fstab file for editing nano text editor.

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Step 3: Enter the following command line, which will enable NTFS write support. Be sure to substitute DISKNAME with your disk name without any space.

LABEL=DISKNAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse

Step 4: Press Ctrl + O to save the file after you are done and press Return, then press Ctrl + C and Ctrl + X to close nano.

Step 5: Restart your Mac and connect the NTFS drives into a Mac. If they are connected, re-plug them into the Mac.

You will notice the drive is no longer visible in Finder, but it's okay, because the drive is now mounted as a readable and writeable volume. To access the mounted NTFS drive, you need to press "Command + Shift + G" and type in /Volumes to open this volume.

Once again, Apple NTFS write support via Terminal is least tested and full of risks. Don't do it unless you have to.

Method 3: Reformat NTFS drive to exFAT

#Free#Time-consuming

 Reformat will erase all data on your NTFS drive. So this method requires backing up the data before reformatting. If there are many files stored in the NTFS drive, it will take a long time.

If granting full read-write access to your NTFS drive on Mac takes too much energy, you may want to reformat the NTFS drive into another file system - A file system that is fully compatible with macOS and Windows.

Specifically, the exFAT file system is most recommended. Although the FAT32 file system is also available for both Windows and macOS, exFAT has fewer limitations and allows you to store files much larger than the 4 GB allowed by FAT32.

Follow the guide to reformat NTFS drive to exFAT on Mac:

• Step 1: Back up files on the NTFS drive first.
• Step 2: Go to Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility.
• Step 3: Select the NTFS drive from the sidebar.
• Step 4: Click Erase.
• Step 5: Type in Name and choose an exFAT file system.
• Step 6: Click the Erase.

Conclusion

It is really a pain on the neck if you can't transfer files from an NTFS drive to Mac where installed macOS Big Sur. It is also frustrating that you can't write to your newly-bought drives because you were not aware that they were NTFS file systems.

This post pulls you out of the frustration about how to write to an NTFS drive with or without a third-party utility on a Mac. Most importantly, users can expect Mac to write to NTFS drives with the assistance of iBoysoft NTFS for Mac even in macOS Big Sur. If your NTFS drive lost important data by mistake, iBoysoft Data Recovery will help you.