• Utility for reading ntfs on mac. How to make Mac friends with the Windows file system

    The other day I was tinkering with the "enemy" platform, I had to throw something voluminous on the 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 core to "panic" from time to time, while the second was an incredible brake. Therefore, the options for installing such add-ons disappeared immediately, and in Snezhka, I remember, there was an option with editing 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, typed in the command:

    Diskutil info /Volumes/WIN

    To find out UUID section (WIN, by the way, is the name of my drive in the NTFS file system). But it wasn’t here ... It’s not known exactly from what Mac updates OS X Snow Leopard (at the time of writing the post was version 10.6.7) partition UUID 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. It didn't take long to smoke. waiting for its reader. But not about the problem of displaying UUIDs, but about a new way to enable "read / write" NTFS partitions. Now I will retell its content, that is, new way enable read/write support for NTFS partitions in Mac OS X 10.6+ Snow Leopard standard means .

    We launch Terminal (terminal.app) and run the following commands in sequence:

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

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

    2. Create backup original file mount_ntfs with prefix .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 a 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 presses Ctrl ⌃ + X and Enter to exit text editor nano.

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

      Chmod 755 /sbin/mount_ntfs

    That's all! To be honest, I did not expect that everything would be so simple. The script worked immediately, without rebooting! And, unlike the previous method, partitions in NTFS are mounted immediately, without any “registration” in fstab and reboots! We use it, but do not forget that for some reason this feature was hidden from users. No one knows exactly why: perhaps due to Microsoft's licensing policy regarding the NTFS file system, and possibly because unstable work the driver itself. In any case, if something goes wrong, everything can be returned back. It is enough to run the command in the Terminal:

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

    And confirm it with an administrator password.

    Attention! All actions to modify the system you do at your own peril and risk! The standard NTFS driver can become extremely unstable under undefined conditions. This can lead to a "crash" of the file system and, as a result, data loss. In view of the fact that any solution for working with file NTFS system, developed outside of Microsoft, is the result of reverse engineering, it is strongly discouraged to use the NTFS file system outside of the Windows operating system 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 that are not critical to loss, or if you have a backup copy of them.

    Everyone loves OS X, but only until someone brings you an NTFS-formatted external drive. And since all Windows users tend to format their external drives to NTFS, this will happen sooner or later. This will happen to those who use both OS X and Windows on different partitions on the same computer - working with the "apple" OS, you will encounter this one day.

    OS X can only read NTFS-formatted volumes, but it cannot write data to them. That is, the user does not have the opportunity to either record a video for someone or edit their own created under Windows Documents- absolutely nothing.

    The fact is that when developing a standard driver for NTFS, Apple company faced with its extremely unstable work in the data recording mode and decided to get out of harm's way this function in the system and completely disable it, since the likelihood that something will go wrong and you will lose the files written to the disk (they either disappear completely or are not read correctly ) is very large. IN command line you can enable writing to NTFS volumes, but it's better to never do this, especially since there are wonderful solutions in which everything works fine.

    We compared three different third party drivers: Paragon NTFS for Mac, Tuxera and NTFS-3G using a hard Seagate drive 500 GB connected to Macbook Pro(end of 2013) through USB controller 3.0 on Asmedia ASM1051 chip. In the description of utilities, let's go from simple to complex.



    The program icon appears in system settings. The number of settings is minimal, you can only automatically check whether there are updates or not, and so the driver just works and provides file recording at high speed - we got about 50-60 megabytes per second. And, perhaps, the speed of work is the most important advantage of Paragon NTFS for Mac, because in modern world on external drives large volumes still store large volumes of files, recording several tens of gigabytes at a time.


    And here already the performance of the driver starts to matter, because the difference is obtained not in a second or two, but in a good tens of minutes. Everyone who, in a hurry somewhere, mentally shouted: “Crawl, crawl!” While the data is being copied, we will now understand.

    Paragon NTFS can also format drives to NTFS and make them bootable, so that with this driver, the computer can be used to restore the health of a Windows PC or partitions on the hard drive of a PC with a Microsoft operating system installed.



    There is also a function to check and restore the file system, which was available by default in previous versions OS X, but with the release of OS X El Capitan "disappeared somewhere."

    Tuxera is a cross-platform driver for Unix-like operating systems, which includes OS X. Tuxera NTFS for Mac costs $31 (at the current exchange rate - 2,124 rubles), there is a free 15-day period during which the program works fully functional.






    The interface is somewhat more complicated, divided into two parts: one in system settings, the other in applications. The functionality is standard: checking and restoring the file system, as well as formatting the disk into different file systems. But it's better not to touch the settings, because ordinary user it is not clear what they are responsible for. Here, say, do you need to "store extended attributes in their original format"? Or do you need to always mount partitions after a bad extraction? And what happens if the answer is “no”?


    The speed of the driver is 25-30 megabytes per second. Interestingly, after installing Tuxera, the reading speed from NTFS media also drops. The developers explain this by concern for stability and reliability.

    NTFS-3G is also a Tuxera project, only free and open source. source code. That is, Tuxera is actually built on the same core. Problem free version in that you will have to compile and install all the code on the system yourself using console commands and downloading from repositories missing libraries. Management then occurs also using the command line.


    If you're lucky and the driver works the first time, it's good, because if you receive an error message during installation, you will have to search through a bunch of forums and spend many unforgettable minutes with console commands: during this time, you could probably earn several licenses paid software. However, this is always the case with "free" software: it is free, and money is earned on technical support.


    Actually, Tuxera takes money for GUI and the possibility of installation by a living person, and not by an android robot: in terms of speed, NTFS-3G is the same as paid version, the same 25-30 MB / s for writing and the same for reading.

    Media for Windows, but cannot write data to them by default. Fortunately, there are several ways to get around this limitation, and today we will talk about them.

    This will come in handy if you want to install on your Mac system boot camp because Windows uses the NTFS file system. However, for external media better use exFAT system. macOS can both read and write to exFAT media just like Windows.

    Available Options

    From the options below, you will have to choose one.

    • Paid third party drivers A: There are third party NTFS drivers for Mac that you can install and they will work pretty well. They are paid, but they are easy to install, and they will work better than free ones.
    • Free Third Party Drivers A: There are also free drivers that provide NTFS support, but they are more difficult to install, especially on Macs with 11 El Capitan and newer. They are slower than paid ones and less secure.
    • Experimental supportNTFS fromApple: In operating room macOS system there is experimental support for writing to NTFS media. However, it is disabled by default, and is enabled via Terminal. There is no guarantee that the function will work properly, it can even lead to problems with the NTFS file system. It often results in data corruption. We strongly advise against using this support, and it's disabled by default for a reason.

    Best Paid Driver:Paragon NTFS ForMac

    Rumor has it that if you even once come across an Apple computer and an operating Mac system OS, then return to Windows more you don't want to. And all the “creativity” of Microsoft after “touching the beautiful” will instantly begin to be perceived with a fair amount of skepticism (except, perhaps, mice, which the Steve Ballmer corporation Satya Nadella has a miracle as good). Whether this is true or not, we do not undertake to judge: someone is closer to Mac OS, someone is closer to Windows. But the fact is that Mac OS users quite often have to deal with "aliens" from the world of Windows, and, alas, nothing can be done about it. What is meant by aliens? Yes, a lot of things, if quite frankly. But now we will talk about such a “windomonster” as the native Windows file system - NTFS. More precisely, about drives formatted in this file system. Alas, it is unrealistic to fully work with them on computers running Mac OS by default - the Apple operating system only supports reading data from such drives, but writing information to them is alas.



    In practice, this leads to problems with external hard drives. Let's say if Windows user will give you a "hard" with a certain array of data, then you can only view them, but somehow change (delete, edit, add a file) - no longer. It's good if a friend who is a Windows fan gave you a hard drive with some movie and a strong recommendation to watch it; you can run a movie directly from a drive connected to the Mac and not encounter the “NFTS problem”. But what if it is vital to write something to someone else's hard drive with NTFS without resorting to formatting? For example, a client asked to throw your video presentation (or a large vector layout, or anything else) on his screw, and a multi-million dollar contract depends on this?

    It is worth emphasizing that this may not even be HDD, and a USB flash drive. Until recently, most of these drives were formatted in FAT32, which both Mac OS and Windows work equally well with. However, modern flash drives are increasingly coming with NTFS. Because FAT32 has a file size limit: it cannot be larger than 4 GB, so the movie is really high quality you can’t write to it anymore, and USB flash drive manufacturers understand this very well. So they format them in NTFS. So users of Apple computers may also experience difficulties with drives of this kind ...

    There are several methods of "training" Mac OS to fully work with NTFS. For example, you can try to edit the file fstab on Mac OS, however, it is not recommended to do this: the consequences can be unpredictable, up to problems with the computer's performance. To solve the problem discussed in this material, there is free utilities, and paid. The vast majority of "gratuitous" options (SLNTFS, NTFS-3G and others), however, have one significant drawback: they do not provide the proper speed. Roughly speaking, you can write anything to drives formatted in NTFS, however, at a snail's pace. Whether it is worth contacting such decisions is an open question.

    In my opinion, it is much more logical to pay, since a “high-speed” driver is not so expensive. A kind of reference solution in this area is Paragon NTFS for Mac 12 for 990 rubles. What are the advantages of this option?


    First, just in speed. The developers guarantee that this is the only product on the market that provides full access to NTFS files (read/write) at the same speed as the built-in Mac OS driver to files in HFS+, its native system. For comparison: free solution it takes about 10 minutes to record a 10 GB movie, and with installed driver Paragon NTFS for Mac 12 - about a minute and a half.

    I also note that Paragon NTFS for Mac is the first NTFS driver with full support for Mac OS 10.10 Yosemite. This, by the way, is an important advantage paid solutions over free ones: the latter may stop developing even tomorrow, plus in their case no one will be responsible for the safety of your data. But shareware (in this case represented by Paragon NTFS for Mac 12) and high-quality technical support is, and timely updates.


    And here's another moment. We know that not all MacBook and iMac owners like to talk about this sensitive topic, and yet ... Practice shows that very, very often Mac OS and Windows coexist on Apple computers. The latter is set, first of all, to launch applications that exist for Windows, but are not available for Mac OS. List hundreds different examples We won’t be “Windows-only” programs, just note that most of them belong to the category of games. So, if you use Boot Camp to install Windows on a Mac, formatting part of the hard drive in NTFS for this, then this partition will be available from under Mac OS read-only.

    And if you create in Windows environment, say, an MS Word document, then after switching to Mac OS, it will not be available for editing. The situation is not very pleasant, but Paragon NTFS for Mac 12 will help you cope with it. That is, this driver belongs to the must-have category not only for active users of external drives, but also for everyone who wants to “sit on two chairs” using both popular operating systems. According to some information, almost a third of the owners of Apple computers are engaged in such dubious (from the point of view of orthodox “macovods”) cases in Russia.

    You can buy Paragon NTFS for Mac 12. The one who enters the code ntfs1210 When making a purchase, you will receive a 30% discount. Therefore, the driver will cost not 990 rubles, but 693 rubles.

    Enjoy and thank you for your attention!

    Any user of the OS X operating system sooner or later faces the need to write something to a drive with the NTFS file system. It could be external drive or a partition with Windows installed along with macOS. The result will be predictable: Apple computers they perfectly read information from these media, but are helpless if necessary to write something down. Nevertheless, 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" FAT. Moreover, the morally and actually obsolete file system is still alive today, and OS X works great with it. Difficulties in the operating room Apple systems arise exclusively when meeting with NTFS. There are several solutions:

    • use the "Terminal" to enable writing to NTFS for each individual drive;
    • install a free driver that adds NTFS write 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 indeed manually enable write support for each individual drive with the NTFS file system. 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, consider much more complex and universal solutions able to solve 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, one 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 OS Apple.

    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.

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

    Now consider paid solutions. There are two of them: Tuxera NTFS and Paragon NTFS.

    Tuxera NTFS can be downloaded from the official website of the developer. A trial version is available for 15 days. Price full version is 31 dollars. After installation, a reboot is required, and the settings are also available in system settings. In general, the solution from Tuxera will work immediately after installing and restarting the system, advanced settings not required.

    Paragon NTFS acts as an analogue and main competitor of Tuxera NTFS. This popular driver will cost a little less (990 rubles), but the validity period trial version less than 5 days. You can download Paragon NTFS. The installation process is very simple, do not forget about restarting the computer. You can access the driver parameters in the same way, only their number is significantly less than that of a competitor. On the other side, simple user nothing to do with this.

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

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

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