Ntfs Reader For Mac Free

By Nathan E. Malpass, Last updated: July 15, 2021

Mac operating systems can read NTFS drives formatted on Windows. However, they don’t have the ability to write to them directly. In this article, we’ll give you both free and paid methods of getting total read/write access to that of NTFS drives.

EaseUS NTFS for Mac allows Mac users to write, edit, copy, move and delete files on Microsoft NTFS volumes. It provides smooth access to writing data to all brands of external drives like Buffalo, Western-Digital, Seagate, Sandisk, Adata, LaCie, Seagate, etc., on Mac computers. Tuxera ntfs for mac free download. System Tools downloads - Tuxera NTFS for Mac by Tuxera Inc. And many more programs are available for instant and free download. A Microsoft NTFS for Mac is a small menu bar utility. It works as a Mac NTFS mounter to mount and unmount your Windows NTFS drives in Mac's desktop, Finder, and Disk Utility. As a Mac NTFS reader, it allows you to view and copy files from an NTFS formatted external drive on Mac. NTFS-3G is a free and open source read and write file system driver for NTFS that enables your Mac to effortlessly write files to a NTFS formatted drive. In other words, NTFS-3G is designed to give your Mac the ability to write to NTFS partitions and mount them as native parts of the operating system environment. Installation from source code: 1.

This guide can be helpful when you wish to write to a Boot Camp partition within your Mac as partitions for the Windows system must utilize NTFS. If you need something for external drives, it is recommended that you use exFAT instead of NFTS. macOS can directly read and write to drives using exFAT like Windows do.

Three Options to Consider When Writing to NTFS Drives on Your Mac

There are multiple options you should consider when writing to NTFS drives using your Mac device. We will dig into these options later on. Take note that with some options, we’ll give you more than one method of doing it.

Third-Party Drivers (Paid)

Third-party NTFS drivers can be used on your Mac device. Usually, you need to install these drivers and they work perfectly. These paid solutions can be installed easily. Plus, they have better performance relative to free options.

Third-Party NTFS Drivers (Free)

To allow Mac support for writing to NTFS drives, you can opt for free, open-source drivers. They can be difficult to install compared to the paid versions. This is because of Mac’s System Integrity Protection feature. Free drivers are slower compared to paid versions. Plus mounting NTFS partitions automatically in read-write mode can be a threat to your security.

Experimental Apple Support For NTFS-Write

The operating system of Mac offers you experimental support for writing to that of NTFS drives. By default, this support is deactivated. You have to dig into the Terminal to activate it.

Using this method is not guaranteed. Plus, you can even mess around with your NTFS file system and cause issues. Some people who’ve tried it resulted in corrupt data. Thus, it is not recommended to use this method. There’s a reason for it being deactivated by default.

It is recommended that you purchase a third-party driver to write to NTFS drives on Mac as other solutions might be very tedious or dangerous.

Best Paid Third-Party NTFS for Mac: FoneDog’s PowerMyMac

FoneDog’s PowerMyMac is a multifunction tool that allows you to perform a variety of activities on your Mac. Aside from being able to clean your Mac of junk, it can also help youwrite files to NTFS drivesusing your beloved Apple computer.

Below are the steps on how to use this tool to write to NTFS drives on Mac:

Step 01: Download, install and launch PowerMyMac on your computer and select Toolkit.

Step 02: Select NTFS.

Step 03: Press the Write button in order to copy, delete, edit, or perform other instructions on your files from Windows-formatted SDD, HDD, or flash drive.

It is important to remember that when a pop-up window labeled “Fail” is displayed on your screen, it is because you still have to install Osxfuse and NTFS – 3g on your Mac device. This is a prerequisite to using the NTFS tool.

Step 04: Now, you will be able to see USB information located on the left side of the screen. The right column lists the USB’s files and folders. You have to drag the file(s) you wish from the USB to the blank location on the interface.

Step 05: Press the button labeled Write. Now, the files you have dragged into the blank space will be transferred to your USB. Once a message pops up saying the process is complete, then writing to NTFS drives is now done.

Step 06: Unmount the USB drive from your Mac computer.

Now, that’s an easy way of writing to NTFS drives using your Mac. PowerMyMac by FoneDog is our top option as it’s the easiest to use. Let’s get into another paid driver before delving into the free methods for writing to NTFS drives.

Runner-Up Paid Third-Party NTFS Driver: Paragon NTFS for Mac

This tool can be purchased for USD 19.95 and provides you with a free trial for 10 days. It will easily and cleanly install on most recent versions of the Mac OS. For instance, it can be installed on Mac OS X El Capitan version 10.11 and macOS Sierra version 10.12.

It really works and does its job. Thus, it’s our second choice if you’re willing to shell out a small amount of cash to get its feature. With Paragon, you don’t need to fuss about terminal commands just to mount partitions manually, automatically do an insecure mount partition, or handle possible corruption as you might experience with free drivers shown below.

If you really need to write to NTFS drives on a Mac, it is best to pay for the software we have mentioned in this article. We are stressing out that it will definitely be worth it.

Another option would be Tuxera NTFS for Mac. This tool costs USD 31.00. Plus, they can give you a free trial for 14 days. However, PowerMyMac and Paragon do the same things for more features or cheaper costs.

How to Write to NTFS Drives for Mac For Free: Using FUSE for macOS

This is a free method that requires a bit of effort. Plus, it is less secure. To make your Mac device mount NTFS partitions automatically within a read-write mode, you have to deactivate System Integrity Protection temporarily. Plus, you also need to replace an Apple tool built into the system with a binary. This binary is highly vulnerable to malicious attacks. Thus, doing this is a risk to your security.

But, you can also use FUSE in order to “manually” mount NTF partitions within a read-write mode. This is the case if you’re willing to use the Terminal. This is more secure compared to the one above. However, it requires more work.

The first thing to do is to go to FUSE for macOS website and download it. After then, install the tool on your Mac. During the installation process, select the default options. Then, you’ll also need the command line developer tools of Apple. You can install this by going to Finder and then visiting Applications. After which, select Utilities and launch the Terminal window. In the said window, type the following command:

After this, click Install to begin the installation process.

In addition to the first two installations, you’ll also need to download homebrew if it isn’t in your Mac yet. This is a package manager designed for Mac OS X. Use the Terminal window again to install this package manager. Just type in the following command and then press Enter to start installing it:

After this, press Enter. If it asks for authentication, then type in your password. The script will download and then install Homebrew automatically on your Mac device. Once Homebrew and developer tools are installed using the Terminal window and run the following again in order to install Ntfs-3g:

Now, you can mount NTFS partitions within reading or write mode manually. Run the command below using a Terminal window. In this way, you will create a mount point located at /Volumes/NTFS. This will be done once only.

Once you connect your NTFS drive to the Mac computer, run the command below using Terminal in order to list the disk partitions:

Now, you will be able to determine the device name of your NTFS partition. You simply have to look for the said partition that has the Windows NTFS file system. It is probable that your Mac device has already mounted the NTFS partition automatically. Thus, you have to unmount it before doing anything else.

Run the command below. Replace the /dev/disk3s1 with the actual name of your NTFS partition device.

After unmounting it, you should mount the drive again. To do this, run the command below. Similar to the one above, you should replace /dev/disk3s1 with the NTFS partition device name.

By now, you’ll notice that the file system will be mounted at the location /Volumes/NTFS. It will also be displayed on your desktop as a regular mounted drive. If you wish to unplug the drive, you can eject it through the usual method of doing so.

If you think the above method works for you, then you don’t have to continue reading. However, if you want to use another free method, then read on.

If you want your Mac device to mount NTFS drives automatically within reading or write mode, you have to deactivate System Integrity Protection.

A Word Of Caution

You might not want to perform this method. The official instructions of the software state that this is a risk to your device’ security. When you do this, you will replace your Mac’s NTFS mount tools with that of the NTFS-3g tools. This will run like that of the root user. Because of the actual way Homebrew installs software on your device, the malware within your Mac can overwrite the said tools. It’s not worth it. However, we’ll still explain how to implement this method if you are willing to take risks.

First, you have to reboot your Mac device. Once you are doing so, press and hold the keys Command + R. It will display the recovery mode environment. Go to the utility menu within recovery mode and open the Terminal. Run the command below:

After this, reboot the Mac device again normally. From the desktop, launch Terminal again. Run the commands below in order for NTFS-3g to function:

Finally, reactivate System Integrity Protection. To do this, you simply reboot the Mac, press, and hold the keys Command + R. In this way, your recovery mode will be launched. Open the Terminal within recovery mode and run the command below:

Then, reboot your Mac computer once again. By now, the support for writing to your NTFS drive should be functioning.

In order to undo all changes you have made and also uninstall everything, you have to deactivate System Integrity Protection first. After doing this, run the commands below:

Then, you can simply uninstall FUSE by going to its panel within System Preferences. After this, you should reactivate System Integrity Protection. By now, you’ve realized why we recommend using PowerMyMac’s NTFS tool instead.

Experimental Support for NTFS-Writing by Apple(Free)

This method is the least tested. That’s why we seriously don’t recommend you to do it. We’ve warned you. So, do not put the blame on us or even on Apple especially if you run into issues in the future. This method is unstable and it might never be. The method is just included here for educational purposes.

First, you have to make sure that the drive has a label that uses a single word only. This is for convenience. If it has two words or more, then change it. This will ensure that the process becomes easier.

Visit Finder and then go to Applications. Then, go to Utilities and open Terminal. Type the command below using the Terminal. In this way, the /etc/fstab file will be opened. The said file will be used to edit within a nano text editor.

The line below should be added to nano. Replace the word “DEVICENAME” with your NTFS drive’s label:

Once you’re finished, press the keys Control + O in order to save the said file. After this, press Control + X to exit nano. If you wish to write to more than one NTFS drive, simply add another line for each one.

Now, you should connect the NTFS drive to your computer. If it is already connected, just unplug it and plug it back again. You should be able to see it within the directory “/Volumes.” To do this, use a Finder window and press Go. After this, click Go To Folder. Type out “/Volume” within the box to gain access to it. Typically, it will not be automatically displayed within Desktop like that of normal drives.

Can Macs Read Ntfs

Later, you can simply undo the change you’ve made. Simply repeat the process above to launch the /etc/fstab file within nano. The line, you’ve placed in the file? Just delete it and save the new changes.

In Conclusion

This guide is here to help you learn how to write to NTFS drives on Mac. Both free and paid methods were outlined here. It is recommended that you opt for the paid methods (e.g., PowerMyMac) in order to get this feature. In this way, you don’t have to risk the performance of your Mac and even potentially face file corruption.

>Tricks >How To Write To NTFS Drives For Mac: Free And Paid Methods
Comment ()

Summary :

If you connect a drive formatted in Mac to a Windows PC, you’ll be prompted to format it before use. That is to say, you are not allowed to view anything saved on it before formatting. But the question is: if you click Format disk, your data will be ruined. This post from MiniTool will introduce several useful ways to help you with that; please read carefully.

Quick Navigation :

Can You Read Mac Drive on Windows

Many people doubt that whether they can read Mac drive on Windows. Some took action: they removed the drive from Mac and connected it to a Windows PC properly. But after connecting the Mac-formatted drive to Windows, a prompt window will pop up automatically on the screen, saying that they need to format the disk before use.

Don’t Format the Drive

You should click Cancel instead of Format disk when seeing this prompt. Why? That is simply because the formatting action will damage your data saved on that drive. Is there any other way to read a Mac-formatted drive on Windows? Sure, it is; some effective ways used by other users will be shown to you later on this page.

What Does Formatting a Hard Drive Do

Some users said they clicked on the Format disk button by mistake when seeing the prompt window mentioned above; they were wondering if there’s any way to help them recover a formatted hard drive. Luckily, the answer is yes.

What does disk formatting mean?

Formatting a hard disk/drive refers to delete all the file & folders save on a drive and set a certain file system for it. The formatting action is performed to prepare a data storage device (including hard disk drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, and SD card) for initial use. Two of the most obvious results of formatting a hard disk are: deleting data and changing file system.

Besides, there are also other benefits of disk formatting:

  • Get more space on disk.
  • Solve disk problems caused by soft failure.
  • Improve disk/system performance greatly.
  • And so on.

Do you know how to improve Windows 10 performance effectively?

It’s necessary to improve Windows 10 performance effectively since various problems will occur inevitably on a system that has been used for a long time.

Recover Formatted Hard Drive

The first and the most important thing to do after formatting a hard drive is to recover precious data from hard drive. MiniTool Power Data Recovery can be a good data recovery assistant: it’s clean, safe, and professional. Please free download the trial edition to experience this data recovery tool first before you decide to buy it; after that, double click on the setup program to finish installing the software on your Windows computer, on which the Mac hard drives are formatted.

Follow this guide to recover data from Mac formatted external hard drives:

  1. Click Start now at the end of installation to launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery. You can also open it by double clicking on the software icon.
  2. Wait for a few seconds until the disk loading process is finished automatically.
  3. Select Devices from the top of the software pane.
  4. Choose the formatted Mac drive under it.
  5. Double click on the target drive directly or click on the Scan button.
  6. The full scan will be started at once; more and more files and folders will be found during the scan. Please make sure the Mac hard drive is always connected to your computer.
  7. Browse the found items carefully to decide which files are needed and which are not; add a checkmark into the square box in from of all the files you want to recover. If you can’t confirm, go to view the content before recovery by clicking Preview.
  8. Click on the Save button in the lower right corner.
  9. Select a storage path in the pop-up window to store the files waiting to be recovered; please make sure it has enough free space left. (You shouldn’t select the original Mac-formatted drive as the storage location in order to avoid secondary damage.)
  10. Click on the OK button in the same window to confirm your selection.
  11. Then, wait until all the files saved on Mac hard drive have been recovered successfully to appointed place. A prompt window will show up to inform you of the recovery result.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is also a great tool for recovering formatted SD card or broken/corrupted USB stick.

After the data recovery process has been completed, you may transfer back the recovered files to the formatted disk as long as you can confirm that you’ve got back all the files you need.

What about Windows 10 read Mac drive? Please read the following sections.

Can a Mac external drive be read on a PC?

A lot of people are wondering whether they can read Mac drive on Windows 10 with freeware. In fact, there is both free and paid software to help people read Mac drive on PC easily, without formatting the disk. I’ll introduce some of the useful software you can use on Windows 10 to read files and folders from Mac-formatted drive.

Note: Choice 1 ~ 3 is suitable for reading HFS & HFS+; choice 4 ~ 5 is used to read APFS on Windows.

Choice 1: HFSExplorer

HFSExplorer is completely free; it’s a basic application designed to help users read Mac-formatted hard disks and disk images. HFSExplorer gives support to various file systems: HFS (the Standard file system on Mac), HFS+ (the Extended file system on Mac OS), HFSX (the Extended Mac OS file system with case sensitive file names), etc.

What Does HFSExplorer Allow You to Do

  • Browse volumes on Mac by using a graphical file system browser.
  • Check the volume related information.
  • Extract files you need (copy files to Windows hard disk free).
  • Mount & read disk images like .dmg and .sparsebundle.
  • Create disk images from the volume on Mac.

The partition schemes including Master Boot Record, GUID Partition Table, and Apple Partition Map are supported by HFSExplorer.

Attention!

Can macs read ntfs

You need to install Java first if you don’t have it on your PC since it’s required (Sun's Java SE runtime environment version 5.0 or greater in which OpenJDK works fine).

HFSExplorer: Launch error

No Java runtime environment found. HFSExplorer cannot function without Java.

Press “OK” to open up http://www.java.com where you can download a Java runtime environment for your system.

You should just click OK as prompted to download & install proper runtime environment when seeing the window above.

How to Use HFSExplorer to Read Mac Hard Drive on Windows

HFSExplorer is a good tool to help you read your Mac-formatted drive on your Windows PC.

  1. Connect the Mac-formatted drive to Windows 10 PC.
  2. Run HFSExplorer as administrator.
  3. Select File from the menu bar.
  4. Choose Load file system from device
  5. Click Autodetect to load the connected hard drive.
  6. Choose the files & folders you want to view in the HFS+ drive.
  7. Click Extract in the graphical window.
  8. Select a folder as the destination.
  9. Expand the folder to read Mac drive files on a Windows 10 PC.

Attention:

Ntfs Reader For Mac Free Download

  • HFS/HFS+/HSFX partitions can all be detected by using HFSExplorer.
  • You can also Select a device or Specify device name manually in step 5.

If the connected external hard drive is not showing up on PC, you can’t detect it in step 5. You must make it appear in Windows first.

Is there any other hard drive reader for Windows? Of course, yes; please move on.

Choice 2: Apple HFS+ Drivers

Another way to access HFS + files in Windows 10 for free is installing Apple HFS + drivers.

Tip: The Apple HFS + drivers only give you read access to the files in Mac-formatted drives.

Steps to Read Mac Drives on PC with Apple HFS + Drivers

First, you should make sure you don’t have Paragon or MacDrive (the hard drive readers I will talk about later) on your Windows computer. If you do, please remove them now.

Second, you should download the correct Windows driver package to your local drive.

Third, you should configure your Windows as follow.

  1. Go to the default download path (Downloads folder) to extract the downloaded zip file.
  2. Find AppleHFS.sys and AppleMNT.sys files.
  3. Copy them by pressing Ctrl + C (you can also do it by right clicking & choosing Copy).
  4. Go to this path: C:WindowsSystem32drivers.
  5. Copy them by pressing Ctrl + V (you can also right click on any blank area & choose Paste).
  6. Navigate to the downloaded folder to find Add_AppleHFS.reg file.
  7. Open the .reg file to bring up a Registry Editor prompt window.
  8. Click on the Yes button and then click OK.
  9. Restart your computer to make changes take effect.

Fourth, you should connect the Mac-formatted drive to your PC -> open File Explorer (also called Windows Explorer) -> locate that drive under This PC -> access files you want.

Tip: You may find the File Explorer has stopped working or not responding when trying to open it; please don’t be nervous since this problem can be fixed.

Choice 3: HFS+ for Windows

Though the Paragon HFS+ for Windows is a paid hard driver reader, you’ll love it after using.

What Can Paragon HFS+ for Windows Do for You

  • The speed is fast and the performance is stable.
  • The Mac file systems are integrated into Windows File Explorer.
  • It provides full read and write access to Mac drives formatted with HFS, HFS +, and HFSX (just like other drives in Windows).
  • It allows Windows programs to read from or write to the Mac-formatted drive on Windows.
  • There are additional features that worth the cost.

How Much Does It Cost

The Paragon HFS+ for Windows is sold on the official website for $19.95 with a single seat license; $49.95 with one license worked on 3 PCs.

If you don’t want to spend money in reading Mac drive on Windows, you should download the trial edition; it is free for use for 10 days. You can access, copy files from or to the Mac drive during this period; it’s enough.

Choice 4: MacDrive

If your Mac drive is formatted with APFS (Apple File System), you won’t be able to read Mac hard drive on Windows because there are no free apps designed for it. But you have many choices of paid applications to access & edit Mac drive files on Windows; MacDrive is a popular one designed by Mediafour.

Merits of MacDrive

  • It is used to help users read data from and write data to Mac disks from Windows directly.
  • You can read both APFS and HFS+ drives in File Explorer.
  • It allows you to create and partition Mac disks on your Windows.
  • A graphical interface is offered for Mac-formatted drives verification, format, and repair.
  • It’s a trusted solution which can date back to 1996.

The only drawback of MacDrive seems to be the selling price is higher than some similar tools. You need to pay $49.99 for the Standard version or $69.99 for the Pro version.

Free Ntfs Reader For Mac

Is it worth the price? Yes, if you have such needs; it also includes unique features like support for Mac-formatted RAID disks.

Ntfs Reader For Mac Free Download

Choice 5: Paragon APFS for Windows

Paragon also designed an APFS for Windows app for reading APFS Mac drive on Windows; it is considered as one of the main competitors of MacDrive.

Features of Paragon APFS for Windows

  • It provides read and write access to Mac drives formatted with APFS.
  • It also allows you to access and edit compressed and cloned files (you can only access the encrypted volumes without making any changes).
  • It gives support to auto-mounting at start-up; the partition tools of MacDrive are not included in this app.

The biggest disadvantage of Paragon APFS for Windows when compared to MacDrive is the HFS+ support. The biggest advantage of Paragon APFS for Windows over MacDrive is the price – it costs only $49.95 for one license worked on 3 PCs.

Of course, there are many other tools available for you to read Mac drives on Windows (10/8/7, etc.).

Bonus Tip

You can format your Mac hard drive to exFAT, which supports both Windows and Mac OS X. In this way, you can get full read and write access to exFAT drives on Windows without any additional third-party software.

The only thing you need to worry is that the data on Mac drives will be removed. So you need to turn to MiniTool Power Data Recovery as mentioned in part 1 to recover the files you need after formatting.

Tuxera Ntfs For Mac

How to format a hard drive? Basically, there are three ways.

Mac Mount Ntfs Read Write

  • Right click on the drive in File Explorer -> choose Format.
  • OpenDisk Management -> right click on the target drive -> choose Format.
  • Format Partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard – a professional disk manager.

Final Thoughts

Though you can’t access a Mac-formatted drive on a Windows computer directly, there are useful ways and tools to help you read Mac drive on Windows easily. Please just follow the steps mentioned above and choose the tool depending on your needs.

Comments are closed.