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NTFS read/write support in OSX Snow Leopard

How to enable read write support for Windows NTFS formatted drives in OSX Snow Leopard

Apple OSX Snow Leopard has the ability to mount NTFS volumes as read/write, but it's not enabled by default. Just read only is supported, as in 10.5.

Here's how to get full read/write support for NTFS drives in Snow Leopard. First, uninstall NTFS-3G or Paragon if you're using either one:

1. In Terminal, type diskutil info /Volumes/volume_name, where volume_name is the name of the NTFS volume drive. From the output, copy the Volume UUID value to the clipboard.

2. Back up /etc/fstab if you have it; it shouldn't be there in a default installation.

3. Type sudo nano /etc/fstab.

4. In the editor, type UUID=, then paste the UUID number you copied from the clipboard. Type a Space, then type none ntfs rw. The final line should look like this: UUID=123-456-789 none ntfs rw, where 123-456-789 is the UUID you copied in the first step.

5. Repeat the above steps for any other NTFS drives/partitions you have.

6. Save the file and quit nano (Control-X, Y, Enter), then restart your system.

After recently upgrading to OSX Snow Leopard and configuring a Mac Pro dual boot system with Windows 7, I needed to be able to read and write to the windows drives in the same machine, so this was the solution.

Hope this helps someone else.

posted by Tony