MacBook Pro can't edit NTFS!

[limwhow]

Hello.
I have started using the MacBook Pro recently and I am very new to the Mac OS.
I have external hard drives connected to my Windows based PC for all my photos backup. And these drives are formated using NTFS formats.
The sales lady at Mac told me that MacBook Pro can only read and view these photos, but will not allow me to edit and save them back into the hard disk with NTFS format. I tried this and found it to be so.
However, a friend of mine told me that he has no such problem.

I was told that I need to re-format the disks into Mac format or FAT32 format.
I like to ask all's opinion on this matter. Do you all have the same problem?
If so, how do you all over come this?
(I hope to still be able to connect all my external hard disks to the Windows PC for synchromised back-ups, and yet able to use these same hard disks for the MacBook Pro).

Thank you in advance.

 

[kel77]

Yes, if you want to share drives usage between PC and Mac, you need to have it as FAT32 only.

Other option is to use some 3rd party NTFS software drivers. Google for them.

 

[limwhow]

Yes, if you want to share drives usage between PC and Mac, you need to have it as FAT32 only.

Other option is to use some 3rd party NTFS software drivers. Google for them.

Hi kel77, thank you for your reply. Let me understand you correctly. That means, if I can get some third party NTFS drivers for my MacBook Pro, and install it, then this Mac will be able to not only read from the NTFS hard disks, but can also write back into it.
Is that correst?

 

[NeTHaCk]

Yes, if you want to share drives usage between PC and Mac, you need to have it as FAT32 only.

Other option is to use some 3rd party NTFS software drivers. Google for them.

yeah fat32 only.. BUT fat32 has limitations .. something about cannot excceed certain megabyte or gigabyte...

 

[ryanlcl]

There are paid options but this is free. :thumbsup:

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

 

[kel77]

Hi kel77, thank you for your reply. Let me understand you correctly. That means, if I can get some third party NTFS drivers for my MacBook Pro, and install it, then this Mac will be able to not only read from the NTFS hard disks, but can also write back into it.
Is that correst?

Yes, the drivers will allow you to modify files on NTFS as well.

 

[limwhow]

yeah fat32 only.. BUT fat32 has limitations .. something about cannot excceed certain megabyte or gigabyte...

Thanks for your reply, NeTHaCk. Yes, the sales lady told me also that if I were to use FAT32, then I cannot exceed 4Gb for every transfer. That is the limitation. Whereas for NTFS, the limitation is much higher. I can't remember how much though.

 

[limwhow]

Yes, the drivers will allow you to modify files on NTFS as well.

Now, that is marvellous. Because this is exactly what I needed to do. Which one do you use, kel77? Can you recommend me some?

There are paid options but this is free. :thumbsup:

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

Thanks, ryanlcl. Are you using this free one and are you happy with this? What is your opinion on the other paid ones? Can you recommend me some too?

 

[ryanlcl]

I've got NTFS-3G installed but honestly I hardly ever need to use it as I'm running purely on a Mac. My Windows box is on another machine that I hardly turn on. From experience the free one might be a bit slower at transferring files but hey, it's free. You can try it first to see if it suits your needs.

If you're looking for a paid version try this:
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

 

[kel77]

Now, that is marvellous. Because this is exactly what I needed to do. Which one do you use, kel77? Can you recommend me some?

I used VMWare Fusion. If flles in NTFS, just copy them to Windows partition. If I need it on Mac, just drag and drop over from Windows to OS X.

 

[K3N]

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

Try MacFUSE, Its supported by Google staff, free and works well.

 

[limwhow]

I used VMWare Fusion. If flles in NTFS, just copy them to Windows partition. If I need it on Mac, just drag and drop over from Windows to OS X.

kel77, this sounds innovative. Looks like just need to partition the hard disk into a NTFS and Mac format, then just drag and paste. VMWare Fusion. Thank you very much.

I've got NTFS-3G installed but honestly I hardly ever need to use it as I'm running purely on a Mac. My Windows box is on another machine that I hardly turn on. From experience the free one might be a bit slower at transferring files but hey, it's free. You can try it first to see if it suits your needs.

If you're looking for a paid version try this:
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

ryanlcl, I will study up NTFS-3G, and also check out the paid version of the ntfs-mac software.

All of you have been most helpful and most quick in giving me a lead to find out more about how to solve my problem. My sincere gratitude!

 

[limwhow]

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

Try MacFUSE, Its supported by Google staff, free and works well.

K3N, this sounds like also another good one, this MacFUSE. Do you use this one?

 

[Drudkh]

i've been using macfuse, so far no problem.

 

[limwhow]

i've been using macfuse, so far no problem.

Hi Drudkh. Thanks for joining in with your opinion. Can you describe to me how you connect your Windows based PC and your Mac together and how you share your, say, several external hard disks? And in what way MacFuse is able to help you synchronise your photo files?

 

[maddyks]

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

Try MacFUSE, Its supported by Google staff, free and works well.

MacFUSE uses NTFS-3G But yea I started with MacFuse and till now have no issues handling any NTFS drive connected to my MBP

And yes FAT32 has size limitation of 4 GB.

 

[limwhow]

i've been using macfuse, so far no problem.

MacFUSE uses NTFS-3G But yea I started with MacFuse and till now have no issues handling any NTFS drive connected to my MBP
....

Thanks to both of you. So it seems that both of you like using the MacFUSE that deploys NTFS-3G, and both of you have found it good.
This thread is leading me to a lot of new unfound land (with respect only to me).

 

[K3N]

K3N, this sounds like also another good one, this MacFUSE. Do you use this one?

Yep I'm using this and it works with external usb drives too.

 

[tirza]

i use Paragon NTFS.

the other free software (ntfs3g i mean), from what i heard, the speed is slower than this Paragon ones. but this one is not freeware.

 

[ordinarypeople]

Why not try copying all the files and data into your MBP or another HDD, run DISK UTILITY in UTILITIES and ERASE the HDD, formatting it with MS-DOS FAT format at the same time? Both Mac and PC can read and write it after formatting. Same goes for any flash drives. After that, copy the files and data back into your newly formatted HDD. It takes less than a minute to ERASE and format the HDD to MS-DOS FAT.