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Resolved How to enable native NTFS write in 10.8 Mountain Lion?
- Thread starter LinMac
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A method which works flawlessly for me is Paragon NTFS. Will cost you a few $$$ but setup is foolproof and I haven't encountered any issues yet.
Mac OS X can only read NTFS drives natively, but writing is possible via several methods.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
- Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
- Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
[*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:- For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon ($19.95) (Best Choice for Lion and Mountain Lion)
- For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
- Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36), which is an enhanced version of NTFS-3G with faster performance.
- Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and later versions, but is not advisable, due to instability.
- AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
- Maximum file size: 16 TB
- Maximum volume size: 256TB
- You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
Don't point out flaws in fanboi positions...
Just as Win should play well with other file formats, so should Apple, a heck of a lot of NTFS drives out there - especially if you move large files btw cameras, entertainment units etc. Childish to refuse to cross-license.
I completely agree. Windows also should be able to read/write HFS+ & HFS+J. Someone should tell Apple and Microsoft that the format of a file system has literally zero impact on the device and OS we choose to adopt. So aggravating that it's still an issue in 2013.
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Same here (bc I'm a dick and refuse to pay for it and there's no working crack for the latest paragon solution).
That highly depends on the distro you are using. Most do not have this functionality by default. It requires the user to install ntfs-3g which you can also use on OS X (and any other UNIX/Linux operating system). Tuxera is the commercial version of ntfs-3g and seems to be faster and more stable (Paragorn is its competitor btw).
However, ntfs is still proprietary stuff. The reason non-Windows systems can use it is very simple: it's the same as with formats like .doc/xls/etc. and smb/cifs: somebody has reverse engineered it and another has created an implementation from it (ntfs-3g, OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice, Samba).
Problem is that NTFS write support has to be fully stable, I can't rely on errors. I did download once such a free driver from Sourceforge, and when I would insert an NTFS drive, sometimes it would work, but most often it would lock up OSX. Good thing it had an uninstall script with it