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This can't be right... I can't edit NTFS drives?

nim6us

nim6us

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 20, 2012
82
2
I'm really trying to become a Mac guy, and there's a lot of things I like. But the reputation that it "just works" is proving... trying. One such difficulty, it appears all my NTFS drives are read only? I mean I understand Apple has to set itself apart from Windows, but NTFS is the most prevalent file format. My MacBook can even read the drive, but just to be difficult it won't write? Say it ain't so, seems so petty.
 
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I usually format to FAT if I need to use with Windows. Pull all your files off, reformat, and then use them with your Mac. :)
 
There are 3rd party options available to get NTFS support. You can try exfat instead.
 
nim6us said:
I'm really trying to become a Mac guy, and there's a lot of things I like. But the reputation that it "just works" is proving... trying. One such difficulty, it appears all my NTFS drives are read only? I mean I understand Apple has to set itself apart from Windows, but NTFS is the most prevalent file format. My Powerbook can even read the drive, but just to be difficult it won't write? Say it ain't so, seems so petty.
Click to expand...

This isn't a Mac thing, it goes both ways. Windows PCs cannot write to native Mac format (Mac OS Extended) either, just as Mac can't write to native Windows format (NTFS).

You'll need to use third party software like Paragon to allow NTFS read/write. Certain HDD manufacturers like Seagate provide this software for free if you use their products (link).
 
Well my main concern was files over 4GB. I haven't read much about exFAT but perhaps now is the time to take it for a test drive. Any notable downsides to exFAT?
 
While NTFS is the most prevalent format it is still a Windows propitiatory format. Windows doesn't natively use Mac formats, let-alone even allow read-only, so Macs are one up there in my eyes.

You can get third party applications which add the support for full read/write to NTFS drives such as Tuxera NTFS or MacFuse.
 
Yeah already strike one against exFAT, Roku doesn't seem to like it :/
 
I've been using ExFat on all my external drives for the past year or so. It works flawlessly between Windows and OS X.
 
just download a program called paragon ntfs and your problem is fully solved in an it just works way. that is not free software but...well...you know
 
Mac OS X can only read NTFS drives natively, but writing is possible via several methods. 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 Mac OS X 10.5 and later, including Lion, FUSE for OS X
    • 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.
 
Dalton63841 said:
This is ONLY true because Windows is the most prevalent OS. If you were on Linux you would be using ext2/3/4 more than likely, and still have to jump through a hoop to write to a non-native filesystem.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what hoops you are referring to with linux. On my desktop machine which is running debian linux, I can read/write to an NTFS usb drive without adding anything from outside the standard debian linux repositories - in fact, I'm pretty sure that ntfs-3g was part of the default installation.

The best solution for NTFS depends on whether your drives are internal or external. Cloud storage is probably the way to go for small files and/or if you have fast internet access, or some sort of NAS box for larger local storage needs, then Windows, Linux and Mac can all access it.
 
I don't buy a lot of software, but I just gave in and paid the $20 for paragon NTFS when I moved to OS X. I've got four 2TB external drives formatted to NTFS, two which are encrypted that took hours to do. Paragon was cheap enough and my drives work seamlessly now between OS X and Win7 now.
 
alex0002 said:
I'm not sure what hoops you are referring to with linux. On my desktop machine which is running debian linux, I can read/write to an NTFS usb drive without adding anything from outside the standard debian linux repositories - in fact, I'm pretty sure that ntfs-3g was part of the default installation.
Click to expand...

Fellow Debian user. Awesome.! Yea I know Debian and new versions of Ubuntu and a few others now have read-write for NTFS, but that's not true of most linux distros. In fact even with those distros they are not giving you true native read-write. Just like you said they are including ntfs-3G as part of the installation.
 
HFS+-formatted external hard drives are more expensive than NTFS-formatted ones.

Synology NAS units cannot read any HFS+-formatted external HDDs connected to them. NTFS works fine.

So the only reason I'd have an external storage formatted HFS+ is to use it for Time Machine.
 
jcpb said:
HFS+-formatted external hard drives are more expensive than NTFS-formatted ones.

Synology NAS units cannot read any HFS+-formatted external HDDs connected to them. NTFS works fine.

So the only reason I'd have an external storage formatted HFS+ is to use it for Time Machine.
Click to expand...

Why can't you buy whatever drive is cheapest and format it however you like? It doesn't need to be HFS out of the box, just reformat it?
 
nim6us said:
I'm really trying to become a Mac guy, and there's a lot of things I like. But the reputation that it "just works" is proving... trying. One such difficulty, it appears all my NTFS drives are read only? I mean I understand Apple has to set itself apart from Windows, but NTFS is the most prevalent file format. My MacBook can even read the drive, but just to be difficult it won't write? Say it ain't so, seems so petty.
Click to expand...

Get Parallels. That will solve all your issues.

Also Windows cannot read or write HFS+ so it is a bit rich to put one on OSX when at least it comes half way.
 
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