Install NTFS-3G with read-write on OS X Lion using MacPorts

Question

I have a nicely working MacPorts on Lion. When I run

sudo port install ntfs-3g

it does compile without errors. However, when I attach a NTFS-formatted external drive, it's read only. And there is no Preferences icon for NTFS-3G, like there was in my Snow Leopard install. Is the NTFS-3G driver active? How can I find out and fix this?

UPDATE: MacFUSE got installed along with NTFS-3G as a dependency and I did reboot after installing. The ntfs-3g command is available at the command line but I would really like all NTFS drives to be mounted using it automatically and with read-write support.

Answer 1

Check this, it details how to make ntfs-3g work through through MacPorts, and also how to make it work through an older version of NTFS-3G with a patched version of MacFuse:

http://fernandofig.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/ntfs-write-support-on-osx-lion-with-ntfs-3g-f/

The reason you couldn't make ntfs-3g work through MacPorts is that ntfs-3g still depends on MacFuse by default. Uninstall the ntfs-3g and macfuse ports, then install fuse4x, and then ntfs-3g. Like this:

sudo port uninstall macfuse ntfs-3g
sudo port clean --all macfuse ntfs-3g
sudo port install fuse4x
sudo port install ntfs-3g

You'll have to use some specific options for mounting, check the post above.

Answer 2

MacFuse only provides a 32-bit interface which does not work under the 64-bit Lion kernel. Read system log for related error messages.

You'll have to wait for MacPort to change the dependency to use the newer fuse4x (ticket).

Answer 3

Fernando Figueiredo mentioned and linked to a post about using MacPorts' ntfs-3g build, but when I tried to go to the page, it was broken (404). I was able to fetch it from Google cache though. I've posted the important part from the end of the blog post here. Basically so I can find it again myself later. :-)

Instructions:

1. Install ntfs-3g via ports sudo port install ntfs-3g
2. Move aside built-in Mac OS ntfs support sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.orig
3. Create shell script to use ntfs-3g (see below)
4. Fix file permissions sudo chmod 0755 /sbin/mount_ntfs
5. Fix file ownership sudo chown 0:0 /sbin/mount_ntfs
6. Update script USER_ID default with output from id -u
7. Update script GROUP_ID default with output from id -g

The content of the shell script for step 3:

#!/bin/bash
VOLUME_NAME="${@:$#}"
VOLUME_NAME=${VOLUME_NAME#/Volumes/}
USER_ID=501
GROUP_ID=20
TIMEOUT=20
if [ `/usr/bin/stat -f "%u" /dev/console` -eq 0 ]; then
        USERNAME=`/usr/bin/defaults read /library/preferences/com.apple.loginwindow | /usr/bin/grep autoLoginUser | /usr/bin/awk '{ print $3 }' | /usr/bin/sed 's/;//'`
        if [ "$USERNAME" = "" ]; then
                until [ `stat -f "%u" /dev/console` -ne 0 ] || [ $TIMEOUT -eq 0 ]; do
                        sleep 1
                        let TIMEOUT--
                done
                if [ $TIMEOUT -ne 0 ]; then
                        USER_ID=`/usr/bin/stat -f "%u" /dev/console`
                        GROUP_ID=`/usr/bin/stat -f "%g" /dev/console`
                fi
        else
                USER_ID=`/usr/bin/id -u $USERNAME`
                GROUP_ID=`/usr/bin/id -g $USERNAME`
        fi
else
        USER_ID=`/usr/bin/stat -f "%u" /dev/console`
        GROUP_ID=`/usr/bin/stat -f "%g" /dev/console`
fi

/opt/local/bin/ntfs-3g \
         -o volname="${VOLUME_NAME}" \
         -o local \
         -o negative_vncache \
         -o auto_xattr \
         -o auto_cache \
         -o noatime \
         -o windows_names \
         -o user_xattr \
         -o inherit \
         -o uid=$USER_ID \
         -o gid=$GROUP_ID \
         -o allow_other \
         "$@" &> /var/log/ntfsmnt.log

exit $?;