MacBook – Alternative to Tuxera NTFS and MacFUSE

filesystemmacbook prontfsusb

Im trying to mount files to an NTFS format drive, I read on the internet that either Tuxera NTFS or MacFuse work for such things. However TuxeraNTFS filled my USB drive with space that should be free after file deletion, and I had to use windows to access the drive and delete the hidden folders created by Tuxera. MacFuse never installed correctly and states that "MacFuse does not appear to be installed"..

Is there any other reliable program that 100% works with NTFS drives ?

Platform : rMBP Mountain Lion OSX 10.8

Thanks

Best Answer

There are several programs that provide NTFS support. However, I would hesitate to claim that any of these programs can provide 100% compatibility and support.

Here's a subset of the NTFS list in Richard Austin's Blog Champion's discussion of OS X file system choices:

Tuxera - I've used this program with no issues in Lion and Mountain Lion
Paragon - site claims to support Mountain Lion, personally haven't used
OSX Fuse - a freeware successor, don't know if it works with Mountain Lion, personally haven't used

I don't have a retina MBP to test with, but any of these should offer you a good starting point. Since you've already tried Tuxera, Paragon appears to be your best bet, while OSX Fuse would be a good option to try out.

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How to make ntfs-3g drive visible in Finder

I finally got it working. I used the info at this site. The instructions are now included in brew installations.

Basically use brew or macports to install ntfs-3g, fuse4x, and fuse4x-kext. If you have an icon in System Preferences for fuse or macfuse, remove those, you don't need them. Follow the instructions after you finish installing them. You can also use brew info to see those instructions if you missed them before.

When I did brew info ntfs-3g I found this.

To replace the default Mac OSX automounter:
    sudo mv /sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs.orig
    sudo ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/ntfs-3g/2012.1.15/sbin/mount_ntfs /sbin/mount_ntfs

I also did brew fuse4x-kext and found this.

  sudo cp -rfX /usr/local/Cellar/fuse4x-kext/0.9.0/Library/Extensions/fuse4x.kext /Library/Extensions
  sudo chmod +s /Library/Extensions/fuse4x.kext/Support/load_fuse4x

After running those commands I got the ntfs drives to automount and be visible in Finder with read/write access.

MacOS – How to view hidden files in the Finder

To enable the Finder to show all files (including "hidden" ones), you can type the following command in at the command prompt in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool YES; killall -HUP Finder The first part sets a hidden preference so the finder shows all files; the second part restarts the Finder so these preferences take effect (killall on its own tells a program to quit; the -HUP flag asks the program to restart).

If you want to reverse this so that the Finder now hides the files it normally hides, type this in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool NO; killall -HUP Finder

That said, your actual problem of disk space not being freed up when you "delete" files is actually by design.

To permanently delete a file, you need to empty the Trash — Mac OS X doesn't delete files directly in the Finder; it first moves them to a temporary storage on their original volume, and then when you Empty Trash… in Finder, the files get deleted.

Some users are reporting that defaults write com.apple.Finder is not working on their Mountain Lion systems but defaults write com.apple.finder (note the lower case) is working. On my system running Mountain Lion, I am finding that the command works as written, but if it doesn't for you, try lower-casing the F in Finder in defaults write statement.

Best Answer

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How to make ntfs-3g drive visible in Finder

MacOS – How to view hidden files in the Finder

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