Am I going Mad? NTFS on Mac OS X

[grapii]

I just got my first MBP, and found an old external disk I no longer use to setup Time Machine. This eHD was previously formatted as NTFS and had some files on it. I thought I'd connect it up to the MBP and it obviously won't be able to recognise it and ask me to format.

To my supprise, it appeared on my desktop, and having double-clicked on it I actually saw the files. So I then dragged one of these files (pdf) onto the mac desktop, and it worked. Double-clicked on the file it opened 😕

I thought the two OS's don't play nicely together, and if you want to use both either format as FAT or use network shares.

This is strange no? One thing I didn't try be formatting for Time Machine, was the ability to write back, anyone know about this?

 

[cjmillsnun]

Mac OS X has read only access to NTFS drives and volumes locally including attached external drives.

Snow Leopard 10.6 can be hacked to work read/write, but I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[spinnerlys]

Mac OS X can read FAT32 and NTFS formatted volumes (partitions on an HDD included), and it can write to FAT32 without additional software.
To write to NTFS formatted volumes, use the free NTFS-3G driver from here:
http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/


MacRumors Guides - File Systems

Disk Utility guide



Also have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.

 

[satcomer]

Well have you seen the application NTFS for Mac by Paragon?

 

[tlinford]

Been there too..

I changed from PC to Mac a couple of years ago and noticed the same thing with an external from my old PC laptop. Initially overexcited that I could share an external drive between PC and MAC, I soon realised the write issue -- found some things to make it work, but to be honest, copy your external drives contents to you internal HD, reformat it Mac OS extended journalised (which is better that NTFS) then copy your stuff back...

You will never miss NTFS ... I was surprised, I didn't. Now never use the PC... I even offered my DELL to my 7 year old son, to play games on, he said "na Dad, I want an Apple!" oh dear, the power of branding! He then went on to say, Daddy, you've got 2 Apple's !!....... get off, they're mine!!!!

 

[grapii]

Thanks all,

Writing back is not a concern of mine, as I doubt I'll want to do that. But being able to read, for me, is a big one, and I don't have to go through the headache of working out how to get my files off my MCE onto the MBP.
😀

 

[coops]

I occasionally write to NTFS - using ntfsmounter, a free and simple app...

http://ntfsmounter.com/

Just be sure to eject the volume properly/cleanly from a Windows machine.


Coops

 

[lannister80]

Just be sure to eject the volume properly/cleanly from a Windows machine.

I don't understand that direction. How could I eject it from within Windows if I'm accessing it from within OS X?