How to access external HDD with NTFS from my iMac for free?

3

Possible Duplicate:
A free utility for NTFS writing on Mac OS X 10.6.5?

Is there a way to access (read/write) my external HDD with NTFS file system from my iMac (10.6.5) for free ?
I know about paid solution but is there any free solution available ? (ntfs-3g seems to be paid already)

chubbyk

Posted 2010-12-15T14:36:27.617

Reputation: 587

Question was closed 2012-09-05T19:52:59.560

wha? ntfs-3g is included in linux distros all over the place... – RobotHumans – 2010-12-15T14:39:53.703

– g19fanatic – 2010-12-15T16:59:10.643

Answers

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MacFuse will cover this for you - works a treat for me

Rob Cowell

Posted 2010-12-15T14:36:27.617

Reputation: 1 273

2

Finally got it working with this http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ntfs3g.html . Seems they have 2 licenses , free and commercial

– chubbyk – 2010-12-15T14:59:05.607

2The latest NTFS-3g installers for OS X also bundle in MacFUSE, so you don't have to worry about downloading it separately. – afrazier – 2010-12-15T15:26:36.597

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NTFS-3G has both a paid and a free (as in speech as well as in beer) version. The paid version claims to incorporate all sorts of stability improvements over the free version, but I've been using the free one for some time with no problems. Although it uses FUSE technology, everything you need is in the package - you don't need to download anything else. The latest free version at time of writing is here - sometimes it's not so easy to find; after all, they'd love you to buy the paid version.

Scott

Posted 2010-12-15T14:36:27.617

Reputation: 5 323

I thought Tuxera NTFS claimed performance improvements over the free NTFS-3G, not stability. Though Tuxera does get update more frequently, so it would see bugfixes first. – afrazier – 2010-12-15T21:57:31.733

1It's stability of the performance. NTFS-3G offers an optional caching layer, which improves performance, especially on USB drives, but means there is a delay between when you save the file and it actually being written to disk, so if you unplug the disk without unmounting it first, there's a major risk of data loss. Tuxera NTFS provides a caching layer that is not only claimed to be faster than that of NTFS-3G, but also reduces the risk of data loss in the event of unexpected device removal (don't ask me how). – Scott – 2010-12-15T22:04:04.180

That said, you have a point - stability perhaps isn't quite the right word. Robustness maybe? – Scott – 2010-12-15T22:09:11.243

0

If they can get it to compile on BSD, you should be able to coax it into compiling on mac osx: http://www.freshports.org/sysutils/fusefs-ntfs

pretty sure it's free or can be compiled from source.

RobotHumans

Posted 2010-12-15T14:36:27.617

Reputation: 5 758

No need to recompile BSD source, its already been ported to Mac - see my answer for the link – Rob Cowell – 2010-12-15T14:58:32.753

good deal. I just don't have a mac, so I couldn't be sure. I really couldn't imagine it not being there. – RobotHumans – 2010-12-15T15:02:16.103