Mac natively only supports writing to USB flash drives and flash drives in FAT format. On Mac, you can read NTFS drives in Finder, but no way to write. In this post, I will show you 3 tools you can use to read and write the NTFS format drive for Mac. One is totally free and the other two provide free trials.
Why doesn’t macOS support NTFS writing?
NTFS was introduced in Windows NT 3.1 in 1993. Windows 7/8/10/11 all utilize it to this day, but Microsoft has never made it open source. Apple has no reason to support a file that its competitors do not publish any details. Apple’s file system APFS is also very easy to use. Before macOS10.13, Apple still had a command line that could enable NTFS write permission, but it will not be supported later.
NTFS Disk by Omi (App Store)
NTFS Disk by Omi makes it easy and convenient to mount/unmount NTFS disks on Mac. Support reading and writing files in Windows NTFS disk on Mac, and view all the detailed information of the disk. It is one of the many apps for Mac that I would recommend for new Mac users.
With it, you can one-click repair and format NTFS disk on Mac with an Intel chip or Apple Silicon M1, M2, M3. You can free download it from App Store and start to write NTFS disk on your Mac. For M1 or M2 Mac, you need to enable System Extension before you can make changes on NTFS disk. You can refer to the steps below to see how it works.
Step 1. Free download NTFS Disk by Omi from the App Store.
Step 2. When launched to open an NTFS disk, this app will prompt you to install the plug-in, NTFS Disk Helper Installer. Install it.
Step 3. As mentioned, you need to enable System Extensions. If you have already done it, you can skip to Step 9. Shut down, you Mac. Long press the power button until the “Loading startup options…” to enter the system recovery mode.
Step 4. Choose the “Options” icon, then click “Continue”. You need to enter your passcode to continue.
Step 5. Click the “Utilities” on the top toolbar, and then select “Startup Security Utility”.
Step 6. Select the system disk, then click the “Security Policy…” button in the bottom right corner.
Step 7. Check “Reduce Security” and “Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers”, and click the “OK” button in the bottom right corner.
Step 8. Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner to reboot your Mac.
Step 9. After reboot, a System Extension Blocked message will pop up. Just go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
Step 10. From there, you will see an Allow button below the message saying “System software from developer ‘Omi Software Studio Inc’ was blocked from loading”. Just click Allow and restart your Mac.
Step 11. Now you can use NTFS Disk by Omi to open any disk formatted as NTFS to read and write data. If needed, you can also format NTFS on Mac with M1 chips.
Mounty for NTFS (Not Support for macOS 13)
Mounty for NTFS allows you to mount NTFS devices with write protection in read/write mode. It supports macOS from version 10.9 Mavericks till 12 Monterey, so if your Mac has already updated to macOS 13 Ventura, you should check the other 2 Mac NTFS software.
Once installed, this app alerts you if you have any NTFS-formatted external devices attached to your Mac, enabling you to mount them in read/write mode. This is one of the smallest and fastest programs for the job since it does not install any additional drivers but instead relies on the system-wide infrastructure that macOS already provides.
Mounty for NTFS may be installed using the website’s downloadable DMG files or with Homebrew. One thing that needs noting is that your mounted NTFS drive will become hidden and disappear from the Desktop and Finder menu. To make it easier to relocate the drive, there is an option “Show in Finder” in the Mounty menu.
NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software (Free Trial)
Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon is a fantastic third-party program that lets your Mac read and write to Windows NTFS drives. It is compatible with every macOS release including macOS Sonoma, which is a huge plus for this program.
For M1, M2, M3 Macs to write NTFS drive, you will also need to enable System Extension like using NTFS Disk by Omi. This fantastic tool also offers more stability than its competitor and, of course, hardly a glitch in sight.
Bonus: Convert NTFS to FAT 32 without Data Loss
NTFS is Microsoft’s file system. If you use macOS and Windows, you can also convert your external disk to FAT, which is compatible with most operating systems, if not all. Fortunately, there is a tool called AOMEI Partition Assistant that allows you to convert NTFS to FAT32 without data loss. You can follow the steps below to convert your disk to FAT32 without losing data.
Step 1. Free download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant for Windows and run it. Next, click the “NTFS to FAT32 converter” button.
Step 2. In the following box, click the “NTFS to FAT32” button and click “Next”.
Step 3. Now you’ll be prompted to choose which partition you’d want to convert. Choose the USB disk that you want to convert.
Step 4. A confirmation box will appear asking you to confirm your activities. To go on with the procedure, click the “Proceed” button.
Once the conversion to FAT32 is complete, you can read and write all data on your Mac. However, FAT32 does not support file sizes larger than 4 GB. If there are files larger than 4 GB in size, the conversion process will fail.
Conclusion
Now you have learned 3 ways to read and write NTFS disk on Mac for free. You may choose one of the 3 NTFS for Mac tools based on your preference. Among them, Mounty for NTFS is free to use while the other 2 offer free trials. However, Mounty of NTFS will not work on macOS Sonoma. All in all, I would recommend Paragon NTFS for Mac because it is more reliable.
Instead, you can also convert NTFS to FAT32 without data loss to write data on your removable disk attached to your Mac or Windows.