Enable writing to NTFS hard drives for free in Mac OS X (including El Capitan!) Windows uses the NTFS file system for its hard drives. Mac OS X can read files on NTFS hard drives, but it can't write files to them, which is a glaring omission.

NTFS-3G NTFS-3G is an open source cross-platform implementation of the Microsoft Windows NTFS file system with read-write support. Please note that NTFS-3G and FUSE for macOS are independent projects.

Should you run into NTFS-3G related issues please post the issues on the NTFS-3G support forum at. Installation The following instructions assume that you know how to use Terminal.

Doing this the wrong way could damage your operating system. First, download and install the latest release of FUSE for macOS from. You will need at least version 3.0. Then, if you don't have it yet, install the package manager 'Homebrew' as described on. Install NTFS-3G from Homebrew by opening a Terminal and entering the following command. Brew install ntfs-3g After installing NTFS-3G you can manually mount NTFS volumes in read-write mode by executing the following commands in Terminal.

Replace /dev/disk1s1 with the actual NTFS partition you want to mount. You can find the partition name using diskutil list. Sudo mkdir /Volumes/NTFS sudo /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g /dev/disk1s1 /Volumes/NTFS -olocal -oallow_other Auto-mount NTFS volumes in read-write mode Even though you have installed NTFS-3G, newly connected NTFS volumes will still be auto-mounted in read-only mode. To change this you need to replace Apple's NTFS mount tool /sbin/mount_ntfs with the one provided by NTFS-3G.

It is important that you understand the security implications of what you are about to do. The mount tool is executed with root permissions. This means that NTFS-3G's mount tool will be executed with root permissions, too. Due to the way Homebrew installs software packages, NTFS-3G's mount tool is not protected from being tampered with by unprivileged attackers, essentially giving those attackers root access to your Mac. This is a major security risk.

You have been warned. Note: On OS X El Capitan files in the /sbin directory are protected from being tampered with by a new security feature called System Integrity Protection (SIP). SIP does not protect you against the security threat outlined above. To replace /sbin/mount_ntfs with the version provided by NTFS-3G you will need to reboot your Mac in recovery mode before proceeding.

See for details on how to start the recovery system. Once in recovery mode open a new Terminal window from the Utilities menu. To replace Apple's NTFS mount tool with the one provided by NTFS-3G execute the following commands in Terminal. This will back up the original mount tool to /Volumes/Macintosh HD/sbin/mount_ntfs.orig.

Sudo mv '/Volumes/Macintosh HD/sbin/mount_ntfs' '/Volumes/Macintosh HD/sbin/mount_ntfs.orig' sudo ln -s /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs '/Volumes/Macintosh HD/sbin/mount_ntfs' Uninstallation To uninstall NTFS-3G, open a Terminal prompt and enter the following: brew uninstall ntfs-3g If you have replaced Apple's NTFS mount tool /sbin/mount_ntfs with the one provided by NTFS-3G to auto-mount NTFS volumes in read-write mode you will need to restore the original mount tool. Note: On OS X El Capitan files in the /sbin directory are protected from being tampered with by a new security feature called System Integrity Protection (SIP). You will need to reboot your Mac in recovery mode before proceeding. See above for details. Wifi driver for mac os sierra. Smc fan control for mac os x.