How to read/write NTFS partitions on Mac OS X
Lion and Snow Leopard
Paid Solution
Paragon NTFS
As a paid option, it pretty much works out of the box. Just install it and everything is there, like read and write, automount, format, and disk checking. It also supports latest OS X Lion. It's just $19.99 with 5 days trial so you can test it before taking out your wallet.
Tuxera NTFS
Another paid option. It pretty much has the same offering as Paragon NTFS. It's $32.34 with 15 days trial.
Free NTFS for Mac
There are free solution available, but it comes with the price of extra configurations.
Step 1. Install FUSE for Mac OS X
FUSE for Mac OS X allows you to extend Mac OS X's native file handling capabilities via third-party file systems. OSXFUSE is a successor to MacFUSE, which has been used as a software building block by dozens of products, but is no longer being maintained. The latest version supports Snow Leopard and Lion.
Step 2. Install NTFS-3G
One bad news, NTFS-3G is no longer maintained. We have to install old version of NTFS-3G. ownload here and install. Now restart the machine and attach a drive.
Built-in Option
WARNING: Native NTFS write support is disabled for a reason. There are users who reported it may courrpt your drive. Use at your own risk.
Snow Leopard and newer version has a hidden feature to mount NTFS volumes as read/write, but it's not enabled by default.
Here's how to get read/write support for NTFS drives in Snow Leopard or Lion:
- Uninstall other NTFS software, like Paragon, Tuxera or NTFS-3G.
- Run Terminal in Spotlight.
- Type "diskutil info /Volumes/volname", where volname is the name of the NTFS volume. From the output, copy the Volume UUID value to the clipboard.
- Type "sudo nano /etc/fstab."
- Type "UUID=111-111-111 none ntfs rw", where 111-111-111 is the UUID you copied.
- Save and quit nano by typing Control-X, Y, and then Enter.
- Restart your system.