Enable NTFS File system in Mac OS Mojave

In Mac OS by default installed NTFS driver can only read data from External Hard Disc or Pen Drive. So this is a big issue for those who have storage devices formatted on Windows operating system and want to store some data from Mac OS. Here is the solution for this type of file copy issue.

In our solution, we will use three software package to enable NTFS driver for MacOS Serria or MacOS Mojave. Here step by step process to enable NTFS Driver on Mac OS. Open Terminal in your Mac and follow the commands.

Step 1:

Install Brew in your Mac. (This is a package manager in Mac OS).

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Step 2:

Install FUSE for MacOS. (This is a extend macOS's native file handling capabilities via third-party file systems).

brew cask install osxfuse

Step 3:

Install NTFS 3G for MasOS. (NTFS-3G is an open source cross-platform implementation of the Microsoft Windows NTFS file system with read-write support).

brew install ntfs-3g

Now you have installed everything that is required to enable NTFS file system in MacOS. Now you need to configure the driver for your MacOS.

Step 4:

To move forward first you need to disable the system integrity protection so that you can replace default NTFS driver with NTFS 3G Driver. So reboot the Mac and hold Command+R on the boot start time. You will get a Recovery console window, On top menu go in Utilities and select Terminal.

On terminal type following command:

csrutil disable

You will get a successful message after this. Now reboot Mac normally and open terminal again.

Step 5:

Run the following command to activate NTFS driver.

sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.original
sudo ln -s /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs

Now your original NTFS driver has been renamed to .original and new Driver activated.

Step 6:

You need again enable system integrity protection so reboot the Mac and hold Command+R on the boot start time. You will get a Recovery console window, On top menu go in Utilities and select Terminal.

On terminal type following command:

csrutil enable

You will get a successful message after this. Now reboot Mac normally and open terminal again.

Step 7:

Now your MacOS is ready for the NTFS file system. Connect NTFS drive to your Macbook and allow OSX FUSE when ask for allowing. Disconnect the device and connect again. Your device will be ready to read/write files. Enjoy NTFS.

Note: On macOS Catalina you might face issues in step 5 for read-only files. So, in that case, you can use a temporary solution to write on the NTFS file system.

Open fstab file.

sudo nano /etc/fstab

View the name of your volume/disc-partition that you need to allow write file. Write the following on fstab file.

LABEL=YOUR_VOLUME_NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse

Change YOUR_VOLUME_NAME to your volume name and save file using ctrl+o and exit.

Now reconnect your drive, you will not see the volume in Finder left menu. Now open Finder -> Go -> Go to Folder

Type /volume and click onGo.

You will see your volume name there. Open and use that. Enjoy NTFS.