Mac Writing to NTFS: How to Enable Mac to Write NTFS

"Hi, is there any kind to write into an NTFS USB on macOS Sierra, with any terminal instructions or installed additional software? Thanks a lot."

macOS doesn't support write to NTFS drive. Some tutorials recommend format drive to exFAT which has to write support on Windows and Mac. However, if you already have important data on the disk, you will need to back it up and then format the disk into another format, such as exFAT. This method is time-consuming than other methods in this article. The terminal instruction and third-party software can enable Mac to write NTFS.

Can Mac Write to NTFS

Obviously, no matter what Mac operating system you are using, like macOS Monterey Beta, macOS Big Sur, macOS Catalina, macOS High Sierra, macOS Mojave, or whether it is a laptop or desktop, you can only read the NTFS drive includes USB flash drive, SD card, external hard drive, and memory sticks.

How to Enable Mac to Write NTFS

In this part, you can have one automatic third-party NTFS manager, one apple native program, and one free NTFS driver. Both support read-write NTFS driver for mac.

1 - Using EaseUS NTFS for Mac to Write NTFS

Applies to: Secure NTFS manager for beginners.

To easily manage your NTFS on mac, EaseUS NTFS for Mac is the necessary tool you can download to read and write NTFS drive on Mac, manually switch to read-only mode, mount and unmount NTFS volumes, securely exit to avoid data loss.

This NTFS manager tool will mount your NTFS volumes on the background and you can directly do the write, read, mount target volumes without running software. What you need to do is to download the software and activate it. After starting the program once, EaseUS NTFS for Mac is minimized to the tray by default.

NTFS for Mac Free Download：

How to Use EaseUS NTFS for Mac:

Step 1. Launch and activate EaseUS NTFS for Mac. Click "I already have a license" to unlock this software.

Step 2. Connect an NTFS drive to Mac, EaseUS NTFS for Mac will automatically detect the device. Select your drive and you'll see it's now marked as 'Read-only". Click "Enable Writable" to add read and write rights to the drive.

Step 3. When the state of NTFS drives turns into "Writable".

Step 4. EaseUS NTFS for Mac will pops up a window to help Mac get access to the NTFS drive:

1. 1. Select "Full Disk Access", click the Lock icon and enter admin password to unlock it.
2. 2. Select the two icons of NTFS for Mac.
3. 3. Drag them to the "Full Disk Access" list.
4. 4. Click " Quit & Restore" to re-launch EaseUS NTFS for Mac.

Step 5. When EaseUS NTFS for Mac restarts, you can then open to check, read, write, and even modify saved data on the NTFS device.

2 - Enable NTFS to Write with Terminal (Apple Native)

Applies to: Apple native tool for professional users.

If you often use Terminal, you should be accustomed to this command prompt system, which lets you take full control of your operating system. It is possible to change the permission in this direct way, but it may damage your files and device.

How to Enable Read/Write Permissions on your NTFS Partition:

Step 1. Open Terminal on your Mac.

How to find Terminal:

• Click the Finder logo (the smiling icon on the bottom of the screen).
• Select "Applications" from the left menu.
• Find and open the Utility folder.
• Click to open "Terminal".

Step 2. Connect the NTFS drive to the Mac desktop or laptop.

Step 3. Type command line and hit Enter: sudo nano /etc/fstab

This command will open the /etc/fstab files. If it asks to enter the password, input the one you remember.

Step 4. Type the command on the end of the NTFS file list: LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw, auto, nobrowse (You can change the NAME to the name of NTFS drive.

Step 5. Press Ctrl + O shortcut on your keyboard and press Enter to save.

Step 6. Press Ctrl + X to exit.

Step 7. Next, reconnect the NTFS drive on Mac.

Step 8. Click the Go tab and select "Go to Folder..."

Step 9. In the "Go to Folder" window, input /Volumes and click the Go button.

Step 10. You can see the NTFS volume and enable write support on it.

3 - Free NTFS Driver

Applies to: free software but is hard to operate with many steps.

macFUSE is an integrated program compatible with Mac operating system, which is able to access the NTFS file system. So you can use it to mount NTFS in read/write mode. However, the steps are not friendly to beginners. See how to set up with macFUSE:

Step 1. Download and Install Xcode

Navigate to Finder > Applications > Terminal > Type the command line: xcode-select –install.

The pop window will prompt to install command line developer tool. Click Install to go on.

Step 2. Download and Install Homebrew

Type command line and hit Enter on Terminal window: /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Step 3. Download and Install macFUSE.

Step 4. Install  NTFS-3G

Type command line and hit Enter: brew install ntfs-3g

Step 5. Disable System Integrity Protection

Restart Mac > Press Command + R shortcut on keyboard to see Apple logo > Utilities > Terminal > Type command line and press Enter: csrutil disable > Reboot Mac

Step 6. Type command line to read and write NTFS

Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal

Input command line and hit Enter:

sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.original

sudo ln -s /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs

Closed Thoughts

In this article, 3 methods can enable read and write mode for NTFS driver on Mac. To get the easiest, we recommend using EaseUS NTFS for Mac. The other two also require read and write mode for advanced users. Pick the one that is suitable for you.