• Mac os ntfs is read-only. NTFS on Mac OS X. The best programs for working with the file system

    Not long ago, a couple of articles were published on the blog about enabling the ability to write to partitions in the NTFS file system standard means operating system Mac OS X 10.6 - 10.7. The notes turned out to be extremely popular and in demand by many. Who doesn't remember: for and for. But I did not take into account one nuance: many novice mac users, of course, wanted to activate this “feature”, but in the wrong hands, Terminal + Instructions turned out to be a disastrous mixture for the system NTFS driver. User errors were often of the same type: they executed one of the commands incorrectly or forgot to assign the correct access rights or attributes to modified system files. There were other problems too. For example, some users who had the Paragon NTFS driver version 6 on Snow Leopard and then updated to Lion received a completely non-working system NTFS driver. And neither for reading nor writing. These are, of course, Paragon errors. But who will fix them? Many readers on own experience know how I'm through remote access“shamanized” in their Terminal to restore the consequences of his own articles :) But sometimes I had to solve problems for the Paragon company. Of course, it’s not difficult for me to connect and spend 5-10-15 minutes fixing the NTFS driver. But what to do if a person is from the outback? — The speed of the Internet connection there, to put it mildly, is not very good, and the remote desktop is not a help here. In general, I present to everyone for testing the installation packages I created, which will help solve problems related to NTFS on Mac OS X Lion instead of me.

    So, NTFS Tools... By downloading and mounting the image NTFS Tools for Mac OS X you will be greeted with the following window:

    What does this kit consist of, what is it and what is it for?

    NTFS Enabler. Below the installation package there is a brief description of what it is intended for. I’ll tell you a little more: if you have a “clean” operating system Mac OS X Lion, you did not perform any manipulations with it to activate the “read/write NTFS” mode, then installation of this package activates writing to partitions in the NTFS file system using standard tools of the Mac OS X operating system. I tested the functionality on the Mac OS X Lion operating system versions 10.7.0 - 10.7.2. With the release of new system updates, packages will be tested and updates will be released if necessary. The installation process of NTFS Enabler is very simple, but I kindly ask you, carefully read what is written in each installer window!

    After launch installation package you will see brief description what this package does. Read carefully and click Continue:
    In the next window I have provided recommendations that it is highly advisable to do. Disconnect or unmount all external drives and/or system drives (right click on the drive > Extract "Disk Name" Continue:
    The package is supplied as is, meaning I am not responsible for the loss of your information if the driver fails. If you agree to the terms, continue with the installation:
    Almost the final stage. To install, you must grant the installation package system administrator rights, so in the next dialog box, enter the “super-user” password (I guarantee that there are no malicious components in the package). The package will install less than 1 megabyte of information on system partition. Click the button Install
    If at the end the following message appears:
    — Don’t panic :) This message appears when everything necessary components installed, but the NTFS driver was not automatically activated. After rebooting the operating system, the driver will be successfully loaded into memory and will work as expected.

    NTFS Restorer. Below the installation package it is also indicated what this package is intended for, but I would like to tell you a little more about it: if you have already managed to play around with the system and after that received an error mounting NTFS partitions, this package is for you. It will restore the original condition system driver, after which to activate read/write you need to use the package NTFS Enabler. In addition to restoring the original driver, this package allows you to clean the operating system of all traces of the Paragon NTFS driver versions 6 and 9. If you have problems reading NTFS partitions after Mac updates OS X Snow Leopard on Lion and Paragon NTFS was installed on the system, then during the installation process, check the boxes next to the appropriate driver version (you can specify two versions at once) and the installer will first remove all the “snot” after the Paragon NTFS driver, and then install it in system original NTFS driver.

    Same as installing a package NTFS Enabler After running the installation package, you will see a short description of what the package does. Click Continue:
    Disconnect or unmount all external drives and/or system drives ( right click on the drive > Extract "Disk Name") from file NTFS system. Disconnect the disks, press Continue:
    At this stage, a window describing what will happen in the next step and a warning: the package is supplied as is, that is, I am not responsible for the loss of your information in the event of any failure (although I have never had one). If you agree to the terms, continue with the installation:
    As I already described above, if you have problems mounting NTFS partitions and you have the Paragon NTFS driver installed, then activate the appropriate checkboxes. If you don’t know which version of Paragon NTFS is installed, activate the checkboxes for both versions at the same time. WITH system files nothing will happen, but all traces of Paragon will be completely removed. Set the necessary parameters and click Continue:
    To install, you must grant the installation package system administrator rights, so in the next dialog box, enter the “super-user” password (I again guarantee that there are no malicious components in the package). This package will also install less than 1 megabyte of information on the system partition. Click the button Install to start the installation process:
    Just like when installing the NTFS Enabler package, there is no need to panic when the following warning appears:
    The error appears when all the necessary components are installed, but the NTFS driver is not automatically activated. After rebooting the operating system, the original (standard) driver will be successfully loaded into memory and will work as expected in read-only mode.

    Attention! You do all actions to modify the system at your own peril and risk! A standard NTFS driver can be extremely unstable under uncertain conditions. This can lead to a file system crash and, as a result, data loss. Due to the fact that any solution for working with the NTFS file system developed outside of Microsoft is the result of reverse engineering, it is highly recommended not to use the NTFS file system outside of the operating system Windows systems to store important data. Don't rely on third party solutions, such as Tuxera NTFS, Paragon NTFS or NTFS-3G. Use the NTFS write feature only to exchange files whose loss is not critical, or if you have a backup copy of them.

    Any user of the OS X operating system sooner or later is faced with the need to write something to a drive with the NTFS file system. It could be external storage or the partition with Windows installed along with macOS. The result will be predictable: Apple computers They perfectly read information from these media, but are helpless when it is necessary to write something down. However, this problem is quite simple to solve.

    The NTFS file system was developed by Microsoft for the Windows NT family of operating systems and was supposed to replace the “old lady” FAT. Moreover, the morally and actually outdated file system is still alive today, and OS X works great with it. Difficulties in the operating room Apple systems arise exclusively when encountering NTFS. There are several solutions:

    • use “Terminal” to activate NTFS recording for each individual drive;
    • install a free driver that adds NTFS writing support to OS X;
    • use paid solutions from Tuxera or Paragon.

    In general, all solutions have the right to life and are arranged from the most complex to the simplest. You can actually manually enable write support for each individual NTFS drive. This method is the least practical and will require at least minimal skills in working with the Terminal. For this reason we will omit it.

    Instead, let's look at much more complex and universal solutions, capable of solving our problem once and for all. Let's start with free driver called NTFS-3G. Let's make a reservation right away: it works unstable with latest version OS X - El Capitan. Therefore, you should not expect that support will appear in the fall macOS Sierra. NTFS-3G is suitable for users who use OS X 10.10 or older Apple operating systems.

    You can download the NTFS-3G driver. We also need MacFUSE.

    After downloading everything you need, install MacFUSE, and then NTFS-3G. When installing the latter, you will need to specify the caching method: select No caching. After installation, you need to restart your computer.

    NTFS-3G settings will be available in system settings. It's better not to change anything here. Note that you can uninstall the driver from here. All, NTFS support implemented.

    Now let's look at paid solutions. There are two of them: Tuxera NTFS and Paragon NTFS.

    Tuxera NTFS can be downloaded from the official website of the developer. Available trial version, which will last 15 days. The full version costs $31. A reboot will be required after installation, and the settings are also available in system parameters. In general, the solution from Tuxera will work immediately after installation and restart of the system, additional settings not required.

    The analogue and main competitor of Tuxera NTFS is Paragon NTFS. This popular driver will cost a little less (990 rubles), but the trial version is also valid for 5 days less. You can download Paragon NTFS. The installation process is very simple, do not forget to restart the computer. You can access driver parameters in a similar way, only their number is significantly smaller than that of a competitor. On the other side, to a simple user I don't care about that.

    The most interesting thing awaits at the testing stage: Paragon NTFS turns out to be slightly faster than Tuxera NTFS. In addition, both paid solutions put NTFS-3G on both blades. Thus, choosing a solution for writing to partitions with the NTFS file system should be based on your needs.

    If you work with such drives very rarely, then there is no point in purchasing drivers from Paragon or Tuxera, because the writing speed will probably not be critical.

    If you have to work with NTFS partitions on a regular basis, then you should look away paid solutions. At the same time, Paragon NTFS is cheaper, but has less configuration flexibility. Tuxera NTFS is a little more expensive, but has a large number changeable parameters. In addition, Paragon's solution has more high speed records.

    By default, Mac cannot write files to most flash drives and external hard drives. This happens because they are formatted with the NTFS file system. You may encounter this feature if you try to write a file to a colleague’s flash drive or to your external hard drive, which was used before the transition to Mac.

    The problem is easy to fix: the Mac will work with any drive if you install special application. Another option is to format your flash drive or external hard drive as a file format. ExFAT system, which by default works with both macOS and Windows without installing additional applications.

    Method 1: format the drive with the ExFAT file system

    To format an external drive in ExFAT, you must:

    1. Connect a flash drive or external hard drive to the Mac;

    2. Open the Disk Utility application. To do this, go to Finder - “Programs” - open the “Utilities” folder. Find the “Disk Utility” application in it and launch it;

    3. Choose the required drive in the sidebar and switch to the “Erase” tab;


    4. Select ExFAT from the drop-down list in the “Format” section;

    5. Click "Erase".

    Attention! The data from the flash drive will be completely deleted. Copy them to your computer in advance; after formatting, you can return them back.

    Pros:

      simple and fast;

      for free;

      no need to install additional applications.

    Cons:

      This method is not suitable for working with other people's flash drives and hard drives. If you have to do this often, it is wiser to install the NTFS driver.

    Method 2: Install NTFS Driver on Mac

    There are several drivers that solve the problem. We have reviewed the two best solutions and suggest you familiarize yourself with their pros and cons.

    Tuxera NTFS for Mac


    Tuxera is a driver for Mac computers, which helps them learn to work fully with the NTFS file system.

    To install the driver, you must:

    1. Download Tuxera NTFS for Mac from the official website. The application is paid, but there is a trial version for 15 days;

    2.

    3. Tuxera NTFS.

    No additional settings are required for Tuxera NTFS to work. It will automatically turn on instead of the standard driver and mount all connected drives. After these simple manipulations, the Mac will be able to fully work with connected flash drives and hard drives, formatted in the NTFS file system.

    Pros:

      easy to install and operate;

      takes up little space;

      transmits data quickly and securely.

    Cons:

    Paragon NTFS for Mac


    Paragon NTFS for Mac is a popular driver from the Russian developer Paragon Software. The main advantages of the utility are reliability, stability, high data copying speed and timely updates.

    The installation process is similar to Tuxera:

    1. Download Paragon NTFS for Mac from the official website. The application is paid, but there is a trial version for 10 days;

    2. Install the driver and then restart the Mac;

    3. Go to the Settings application. A new application will appear in the “Others” section NTFS for macOS . Here you can configure it or delete it.

    Installation is quick and easy. The installer has a friendly interface in Russian. The driver settings are minimal: you can turn it on or off. Paragon's write speed is comparable to Tuxera, but its read speed is 5 megabytes per second higher.

    Pros:

    Cons:

      Many computer users Mac have to deal with drives formatted in NTFS- standard file system Windows. The built-in OS X driver does an excellent job of reading data from such disks, but when it comes to writing, you have to resort to the help of third-party utilities.

      It is worth immediately warning newcomers to Mac OS X about how to enable recording support for the built-in driver by simple manipulations with fstab file Don't do it - it may damage the disk. Developers Apple It’s no wonder they disabled recording in the standard driver - it works unstable: there are often cases when some files on the disk are not displayed.

      All utilities listed in this article have sufficient performance for both simple copying or deleting files on the disk, and for active work with storage. For example, using third-party drivers NTFS, you can comfortably work with torrents and even streaming data (video, sound) without any inconvenience.

      SLNTFS

      Quite simple, and most importantly - absolutely free utility. The program interface is minimalistic and convenient and does not require any deep knowledge in the field of file systems. The disadvantages include the fact that the utility first connects the disks in read mode - you have to manually enable the write-mount option in the program settings every time you connect a disk, which is not always convenient.

      Download SLNTFS

      Paragon NTFS

      More well-known analogue for working with the file system NTFS. You will have to pay $19.95 for the program, but it fully pays for its functionality - it can even make NTFS disk bootable. A reboot will be required after installation Mac.

      NTFS-3G and Tuxera for Mac

      Paragon NTFS one could safely admit the best solution recording problems NTFS disks under Mac, if not for the utility from the company Tuxera, well known among users of UNIX-like operating systems, which is Mac OS. There are 2 versions of the program - free NTFS-3G and paid ($31) - Tuxera for Mac. The only difference is in performance. However, for most purposes it will be suitable free version. By default, disks are connected in recording mode. By the way, this utility was developed with an emphasis not on performance, but primarily on reliability and stability.

      The other day I was fiddling around with an “enemy” platform; I needed to upload something large to an NTFS partition from Mac OS X. With things like Paragon NTFS for Mac or NTFS 3G I didn’t bother, the first one in the old days forced the kernel to “panic” from time to time, but the second one was an incredible slowdown. Therefore, options for installing such add-ons disappeared immediately, and in Snowball, I remember, there was an option to edit the file system table - fstab, allowing you to use standard driver NTFS in Mac OS X 10.6+ works in both read and write mode. This is exactly the method I decided to use. Launched Terminal, entered the command:

      Diskutil info /Volumes/WIN

      To find out UUID section (WIN, by the way, is the name of my disk in the NTFS file system). But that was not the case... It is not known exactly from which Mac OS X Snow Leopard update (at the time of writing this post the version was 10.6.7) The UUID of partitions in FAT32 and NTFS is no longer displayed. Use section name in fstab It was also somehow ugly, so I decided to “smoke” articles from various foreign forums on this issue. I didn’t have to “smoke” for long. , was waiting for its reader. But not about the problem of UUID output, but about a new way to enable “read/write” NTFS partitions. Now I will retell its contents, that is new way enabling support for reading/writing NTFS partitions in Mac OS X 10.6+ Snow Leopard using standard tools.

      Let's launch Terminal (Terminal.app) and execute the commands sequentially:

      1. In order not to write unnecessary sudo, we immediately say that we will work on behalf of the administrator (root). Enter the command: sudo -s

        And press Enter. When prompted for a password, enter the superuser password and press Enter again.

      2. We create backup copy original file mount_ntfs with attachment .orig at the end: mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.orig
      3. Now instead of the original file mount_ntfs We create a script that just uses the ability to write to NTFS partitions using standard Mac OS X tools. We launch the console text editor nano: nano /sbin/mount_ntfs
      4. IN open editor insert the following two lines: #!/bin/sh /sbin/mount_ntfs.orig -o rw "$@"

        Press the combination Ctrl keys⌃ + O, then Enter - this saves the changes. Now press Ctrl ⌃ + X and Enter to exit text editor nano.

      5. The script has been created, now we assign it the correct access rights and attributes. Execute the command: chown root:wheel /sbin/mount_ntfs

        Chmod 755 /sbin/mount_ntfs

      That's it! To be honest, I didn’t expect everything to be so simple. The script worked immediately, without rebooting! And, unlike the previous method, partitions in NTFS are mounted immediately, without any “registrations” in fstab and reboots! We use it, but don’t forget that for some reason this opportunity was hidden from users. No one knows exactly why: perhaps due to Microsoft’s licensing policy regarding the NTFS file system, or perhaps due to unstable work the driver itself. In any case, if something goes wrong, everything can be put back. Just run the command in the Terminal:

      Sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs.orig /sbin/mount_ntfs

      And confirm it with the administrator password.

      Attention! You do all actions to modify the system at your own peril and risk! A standard NTFS driver can be extremely unstable under uncertain conditions. This can lead to a file system crash and, as a result, data loss. Due to the fact that any NTFS file system solution developed outside of Microsoft is the result of reverse engineering, it is highly discouraged to use the NTFS file system outside of the Windows operating system to store sensitive data. Do not rely on third party solutions such as Tuxera NTFS, Paragon NTFS or NTFS-3G. Use the NTFS write feature only to exchange files whose loss is not critical, or if you have a backup copy of them.

    Read more: