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User profile for user: Fra55
Fra55 Author
User level: Level1 32 points
Is there any ways or tools that can read and write ntfs-formatted drive on macos monterey? I tired many ways but not succeed.
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Posted on Mar 1, 2022 2:43 AM
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User profile for user: jaomeyu
jaomeyu
User level: Level1 26 points
Posted on Mar 4, 2022 1:26 AM
NTFS is a widely used file system on Windows based PCs and it is owned by Microsoft. Since macOS Catalina as far as i know, reading NTFS file is fully supported. You can freely copy files from NTFS drive to Mac without any issue. However, writing to NTFS is restricted by default on macOS no matter which version it is.
To gain NTFS writing permission on Mac, you have to take advantage of third-party libraries or apps, such as ntfs-3g (command line), mounty, paragon or sysgeeker app.
Each app have it own pros and cons. Here is a full review of best NTFS for Mac app you can find out:
https://www.sysgeeker.com/best-free-ntfs-for-mac-reviews.html
Take a full read and pick up the best one according to the machine you currently have (model and macOS version). Some of them may be not working on M1 Mac or the latest macOS Monterey. So you need to read the review carefully and don't waste time on those problematic solution for your own case.
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User profile for user: jaomeyu
jaomeyu
User level: Level1 26 points
Mar 4, 2022 1:26 AM in response to Fra55
NTFS is a widely used file system on Windows based PCs and it is owned by Microsoft. Since macOS Catalina as far as i know, reading NTFS file is fully supported. You can freely copy files from NTFS drive to Mac without any issue. However, writing to NTFS is restricted by default on macOS no matter which version it is.
To gain NTFS writing permission on Mac, you have to take advantage of third-party libraries or apps, such as ntfs-3g (command line), mounty, paragon or sysgeeker app.
Each app have it own pros and cons. Here is a full review of best NTFS for Mac app you can find out:
https://www.sysgeeker.com/best-free-ntfs-for-mac-reviews.html
Take a full read and pick up the best one according to the machine you currently have (model and macOS version). Some of them may be not working on M1 Mac or the latest macOS Monterey. So you need to read the review carefully and don't waste time on those problematic solution for your own case.
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User profile for user: Fra55
Fra55 Author
User level: Level1 32 points
Mar 4, 2022 2:17 AM in response to jaomeyu
jaomeyu wrote:
NTFS is a widely used file system on Windows based PCs and it is owned by Microsoft. Since macOS Catalina as far as i know, reading NTFS file is fully supported. You can freely copy files from NTFS drive to Mac without any issue. However, writing to NTFS is restricted by default on macOS no matter which version it is.
To gain NTFS writing permission on Mac, you have to take advantage of third-party libraries or apps, such as ntfs-3g (command line), mounty, paragon or sysgeeker app.
Each app have it own pros and cons. Here is a full review of best NTFS for Mac app you can find out:
https://www.sysgeeker.com/best-free-ntfs-for-mac-reviews.html
Take a full read and pick up the best one according to the machine you currently have (model and macOS version). Some of them may be not working on M1 Mac or the latest macOS Monterey. So you need to read the review carefully and don't waste time on those problematic solution for your own case.
Thank you for your answer, your answer gave me more options, and each software has pros and cons.
I have downloaded and installed two tools, SYSGeeker NTFS for mac and Mounty for NTFS for mac. I will make an evaluation after I use it for a while, but I currently found that SYSGeeker NTFS for mac seems to be more useful, it can directly mount my SSD external hard drive, then changed to read/write mode, I can now directly drag files back and forth.
also ,I found Mounty for NTFS for mac is a tool embedded in the menu. Once installed, it will always be in the menu, will this affect the startup speed and computer running speed? I feel that I don't like this kind of software very much. Maybe someone will like it, but it can also read and write NTFS files.
The above is just what I found by comparing the two softwares， they'are two completely different styles and are just personal opinions.
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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
Community+ 2024 User level: Level10 116,579 points
Mar 1, 2022 5:22 AM in response to Fra55
Once you install the third-party NTFS drivers, you now are dependent on that vendor keeping them updated for new releases of macOS. If they don't, you may lose the ability to write to NTFS drives until they do.
Why not use an external drive formatted as exFAT that is shareable between, and read/writable by both operating systems without the need for third-party drivers on macOS?
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User profile for user: Fra55
Fra55 Author
User level: Level1 32 points
Mar 4, 2022 1:23 AM in response to kaz-k
I tried Paragon NTFS for Mac tool but I didn't get the best of luck with their software... I mean it doesnt mount the NTFS volumes as read/write mode, it mounts them readonly, so I stopped using it.
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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level9 60,308 points
Mar 4, 2022 5:39 AM in response to Fra55
Fra55 wrote:
Thank you for your suggestion, As far as I know, Exfat is only suitable for USB flash drive, not for my external hard drive. am I right? I'm trying to copy movies from my old PC to external hard drive (Kingston 1TB storage SSD), then move back to my maOS monterey. So, to read and write NTFS on macOS, do I need to format to exFAT format?
exFAT is perfectly fine for regular external drives. It is the preferred method over NTFS since exFAT has built-in native drivers for both macOS & Windows which means you don't have to rely of finicky third party drivers that could break with the next OS update. Just make sure to use Disk Utility on macOS to erase the drive as GUID partition and exFAT. Sometimes macOS won't recognize the exFAT file system if it was created using another OS because they may use a file allocation size that macOS does not understand (macOS is currently limited in this respect).
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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
Community+ 2024 User level: Level10 116,579 points
Mar 4, 2022 6:14 AM in response to Fra55
Test formatting an external hard drive with exFAT. Toss a file on it from macOS and see if Windows can access that file.
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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level9 60,308 points
Mar 1, 2022 6:36 PM in response to Fra55
macOS Monterey has some compatibility issues with some USB3 drives. macOS 12.1 resolved many of the compatibility issues, but some still remain. You can try disconnect all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem. Wacom tablets seem to be one such device. Some users have had success using the USB-C charging cable to access their USB3 drives, but transfers will be extremely slow since the charging cable only supports USB2 speeds.
I also second the suggestion to use the exFAT file system for sharing a drive with Windows. Just make sure to use Disk Utility to erase the drive since Windows may use file allocation sizes that macOS may not recognize if the drive is formatted using Windows.
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User profile for user: Fra55
Fra55 Author
User level: Level1 32 points
Mar 4, 2022 1:38 AM in response to VikingOSX
Thank you for your suggestion, As far as I know, Exfat is only suitable for USB flash drive, not for my external hard drive. am I right? I'm trying to copy movies from my old PC to external hard drive (Kingston 1TB storage SSD), then move back to my maOS monterey. So, to read and write NTFS on macOS, do I need to format to exFAT format?
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User profile for user: kaz-k
kaz-k
User level: Level9 50,184 points
Mar 1, 2022 3:23 AM in response to Fra55
Hi,
You can read NTFS Drive, though you can't write to. If you want to read/write NTFS drives, you need to get third party utility like Paragon.
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How to read and write NTFS for Mac?
