Top 5 Best NTFS for Mac Reviews in 2024

If you're trying to use an NTFS drive with your Mac, you might hit a snag because macOS isn't set up to write files on NTFS formatted drives by default. While your Mac will let you read files from NTFS drives just fine, it won't allow you to write, edit, delete, or copy those files. This means you can look at what's there, but you can't make any changes or add new files to the drive.

However, The advent of NTFS for Mac software makes everything so much easier, and that's what I am about to share with you today.

What's NTFS Format?

NTFS, short for New Technology File System, is a proprietary file system used by all the modern Windows operating systems including Windows 11. If you have used a Windows PC, you must have seen that NTFS is the default file system there. It has been like this starting with Windows NT 3.1 first introduced in 1993.

Unlike it's counterparts FAT32 and HPFS, the NTFS focuses majorly on performance of your storage by using better compression, enhanced security through the use of user permissions not only on the Windows PC but the individual files and folders stored in it, reliability by ensuring consistency of the files in case of a power outage, proper utilization of disk space using disk quotas, and maintaining the log of all files using the MFT thereby ensuring that a detailed audit is maintained for all the files that have been deleted, moved, or modified from the hard drive.

What's The Best NTFS for Mac Software?

Top 1. SYSGeeker NTFS for Mac

I recently had the chance to use SYSGeeker NTFS for Mac when I needed to manage some files on an NTFS drive using my MacBook. Since macOS doesn’t support writing to NTFS drives natively, I was looking for a reliable solution that could make my life easier without having to reformat the drive.

Upon restarting my Mac, SYSGeeker NTFS for Mac automatically detected my NTFS drives. The interface was intuitive, showing the connected NTFS volumes right on the desktop, similar to any native drive on macOS. I was impressed by the seamless integration; it felt like I was working with a native Mac-formatted drive.

You can download the official version from here:

The performance was solid. File transfers were smooth and fast. I moved a variety of files — large video files, batches of small documents, and everything in between. The transfer speeds were comparable to handling files on native Mac-formatted drives, which was a pleasant surprise as I’ve experienced slower transfers with other NTFS solutions in the past.

Transferring the files between Mac and NTFS is a simple drag-and-drop process. The program can automatically detect your NTFS drive and display in read-only form. You just need to right click the icon and select Mount as writable option, then you will have an access to your NTFS drive in read-write mode on macOS.

Now, the NTFS partition will be automatically mounted and manipulated like native Mac partitions. In other word, you're able to perform any tasks such write, edit, copy, move and delete files on your NTFS volumes on your Mac. It also supports Intel-based Mac devices and those that includes the latest M1, M2 and M 3chipsets, along with all the MacOS starting from Sierra right upto Sonoma. This is a stand-alone software that doesn't require the additional driver.

Overall, my experience with SYSGeeker NTFS for Mac has been very positive. It removed the barriers to accessing and managing NTFS drives on macOS without any hassle. I didn’t encounter any stability issues or bugs during my time using it. It’s a great tool for anyone who regularly works with NTFS drives and needs a reliable solution for a Mac environment.

Top 2. Tuxera NTFS

This is an app which can run in the background without much effort. It can be used by new users for transferring files, as well as by advanced users for extending NTFS attributes, formatting NTFS drives, and even repairing these NTFS drives and partitions.

I recently tried Tuxera NTFS for Mac to manage NTFS drives on my Mac, and unfortunately, my experience didn't quite live up to expectations. Once installed, I noticed that the performance of my NTFS drives was not as good as I had hoped. File transfers were noticeably slower compared to using native Mac-formatted drives or even other NTFS solutions I've tried. Large files, in particular, took significantly longer to copy, and sometimes the transfer speeds were so slow that it disrupted my workflow.

I attempted to reach out to their support team about the issues I was facing, but the response times were longer than I expected. When I did receive replies, they were somewhat helpful, but it still took multiple interactions to address a single issue, which was quite time-consuming.

Top 3. NTFS-3G

This is an opensource freeware NTFS for Mac tool used to read and write NTFS drives on Mac OS X, Linux, Android. Apart from being free, this tool does not have much to offer in terms of advantages. It is only compatible with MacOS 10.12 Sierra and earlier. This is mainly because it was developed by Tuxera which not has a separate utility called Tuxera for NTFS for the same purpose.

Also, NTFS-3G is a command line-based tool. Being a command line tool, you have to know command lines, how to use Terminal, FUSE for macOS, Homebrew or Xcode to use it. It also has a lot of complaints related to its poor performance. Support for NTFS-3G is only available through their GitHub repository in the form of issues submitted there. There's no way to ensure that your issue would ever be resolved.

Top 4. SL-NTFS

This is another free to use NTFS for Mac tool. It's pretty easy to use with an easy installation process. All you need to do is to unzip the archive and launch it. That should list all internal and external NTFS volumes with their respective read/write status. Then, enable NTFS writing can be done in just one simple click. To disable or enable the writing mode on a volume, just simply check the button and enter your password if required. However, SL-NTFS is pretty backdated and has not been updated to MacOS Big Sur yet. It is not compatible with the latest M1 chips, neither does it supports large files and volumes. Being a free utility, it has absolutely zero support. In fact, it does not even have a website of its own. SL-NTFS is pretty low in size with only 1.4MB.

Top 5. UUBYTE NTFSGeeker

The NTFSGeeker utility is a NTFS to Mac tool that enables full read and write access to NTFS external hard drives, and USB flash drives under MacOS X. It mounts the drives and allow the user to add and edit files seamlessly, no matter what the system file format. It has an extremely fast file transfer rate, and extends support till Mac OS 10.15.

 

Conclusion

Now that you have gone through all the review, I would suggest you to pick any one of them based on whether the pros outweigh the cons for that tool, and start using it. But for saving a ton of your time, you can consider to install SYSGeeker NTFS tool or Paragon NTFS for Mac, they're great tool that you can consider among its alternatives

Why You Need A NTFS for Mac Tool?

If you have just switched from Windows to Mac, you might be having trouble transferring files to NTFS-formatted hard drives used on Windows. This is because Apple's Macs only come with support for reading NTFS drive, but when it comes to writing on a NTFS drive, the MacOS cannot do it without the help of a NTFS for Mac tool.

So, if you have an external hard drive where you save all your data, you will not be able to write to that external hard drive from your Mac without the help of these NTFS for Mac tools. Same goes for users who are trying to migrate from Windows to MacOS, but cannot move their existing files and folders from Windows which uses NTFS. Or if you are trying to have the best of both Mac and Windows and have to constantly move files between the Windows PC and the Mac (like I do).

Yes, for all these cases you absolutely need to use a NTFS for Mac tool to make your life much simpler, and so that you can focus more on your work rather than which file system is used by Windows or Mac.