Apple - How do I write to NTFS drives in OS X?

Updated at May 2015, with current solutions.

Free solutions

FUSE for OS X - Successor to MacFUSE

NTFS-3G
Requires a build from source for anything newer than 2010. Last "pre built" version linked from http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/ntfs-3g-for-mac-os-x-2010102.html You can build it from source using homebrew in the other answers.

Paid solutions

Paragon NTFS

Tuxera NTFS

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MacFuse is abandonware, and hasn't been updated since 2009.

This answer is for latest compatibility for OS X 10.11 El Capitan, macOS 10.12 Sierra, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.14 Mojave.

1. Install latest osxfuse (3.x.x) from GitHub. Or install it with Homebrew as follow:

   brew cask install osxfuse
   

2. Install latest NTFS-3G with Homebrew as follow:

   brew install ntfs-3g
   

3. Auto-mount NTFS volumes in read-write mode:

   Link NTFS-3G to boot after temporary disabling System Integrity Protection, as follow:

   • [reboot by holding CMD+R to get in recovery mode]

     csrutil disable
     

   • [reboot normally]

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

   • [reboot by holding CMD+R to get in recovery mode]

     csrutil enable
     

   • [reboot normally]

You will need to re-link manually (step 3) each year when you upgrade macOS (10.11 → 10.12 → 10.13 → 10.14 → ...)

Additional steps if solution does not work:

• try to install ntfs-3g again

  brew install ntfs-3g
  

• it warns that it installed but not linked, try to link again:

  brew link ntfs-3g
  

• it fails and prints dry-run command which will show files to remove:

  brew link --overwrite --dry-run ntfs-3g
  

• remove these files with sudo ('Would remove:' is for English console)

  brew link --overwrite --dry-run ntfs-3g | grep -vF 'Would remove:' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs sudo rm
  

• try to link again and get permission error on creation /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g. brew prevents running with sudo so prepare directory for README:

  sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g
  sudo chmod a+w /usr/local/share/doc/ntfs-3g
  

• run brew link again... success.

• reboot your Mac and allow system extension to load in System Preferences as error box suggests.

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See also the following wiki page: https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/wiki/NTFS-3G

I tested this on Mountain lion and it is free and you don't need to reboot. It uses OS X's native NTFS drivers.

1. Plug-in your device

2. Write in Terminal diskutil list and look for IDENTIFIER where TYPE is Windows_NTFS.

   

   In this case it is disk1s1

3. Then run the following:

   diskutil unmount /dev/disk1s1
   cd /Volumes
   mkdir Elements
   sudo mount -w -t ntfs -o rw,nobrowse /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/Elements
   open /Volumes/Elements