Hello everyone,

Sorry if this was previously discussed. I searched through the web and could not find a clear solution / conclusion (all too generic).

When I had an intel mac, I was able to use 3rd party apps to read, write and format NTFS drives.

Right now, I cannot do so without disabling security features, since Apple Silicon macs no longer allow the use of kext kernel extensions the same way as before. I checked FUSE stuff but it seems unstable.

Every 3rd party app I tried has the same issue. Isn’t there ANY other software, program, etc that allows read/write in NTFS drives without disabling security parameters (on the boot menus)?

If it is not possible, it looks like a shortcoming for those that use more than 1 OS… I have backups in NTFS drives since I also use linux.

Any idea? Kind of bummed with this… I need to export a lot of stuff and FAT* filesystem formats do not meet the requirements as well (due to max file size).

Thank you in advance!!! JS

  • Bloody Harry
    5•11 months ago

    I’m a bit confused why you’re using NTFS on Linux, as there are a multitude of alternative options on file systems for Linux.

    Nevertheless. You could try one of the following:

    1. Try using a virtual Windows environment such als Parallels or VirtualBox or qemu to boot up a Windows installation and copy/edit your files from there.
    2. If the requirement for NTFS is not mission critical, reformat your drives to exFAT, which is very well supported across Linux, Windos, macOS, and iOS/iPadOS. It should meet all your requirements
    • @JackSkellingtonOP
      4•11 months ago

      My apologies, I didn’t make it very clear:

      • external drives are NTFS
      • for linux using EXT4
      • basically, NTFS in some external drives because I interact with linux, macos and windows!

      For what I recall, exFAT has a limit of 4GB per file correct?

      • edit: I see the limit does not apply to exFAT! Thanks for info!!!
      • @fuckwit_mcbumcrumbleEnglish
        4•11 months ago

        FAT32 has a file size limit of 4 gigs, exFAT was created to get around those file system limits of FAT32 and be a reasonable file system.

        exFAT is my go to for any external drive now that it’s actually open and fully supported by Windows, MacOS, and Linux.